Dirt and site work is underway by Butch May Contracting, which was awarded the bid for building Harrison Fire Station # 2 Creekside Substation, which will be located at 523 South Pine Street.
Fire chief Marc Lowery said this project is possible because of the Public Safety Tax passed by the voters in 2014.
The location was chosen by Mayor Jackson and Fire Chief Lowery. Due to ISO requirements, the station has to be in the general area of the current station, and since the city owned the land where Creekside is located, it was a good location for both cost and ISO requirements.
“The original bid was around $1.2 million. But we worked out some details, made some adjustments, and got it just under $1 million,” Lowery said.
“The current downtown fire station has been flooded and blown up. It’s in very rough shape. When the city built the new Public Safety/City Hall on Industrial Park, we knew we couldn’t abandon that old building because the city still needed coverage from that location,” Lowery said.
The two-bay building will be 2,700 square feet, able to house four firefighters at a time. For now, only two will be on duty 24/7, but the department wanted to plan for future potential growth.
“The two bays will be filled with one engine and whatever other apparatus is needed,” Lowery said.
For the homes in that area, Lowery said they do not plan to leave the station in the middle of the night with lights and sirens blaring. “Our guys wait until they hit the street if the call warrants lights and sirens. We will be good neighbors. It won’t be any different than how it sounds now when we leave the downtown station traveling on Pine Street to get to a call.”
The structure will be pre-engineered, with all the beams and individual pieces built to spec and assembled on-site, just like the crew is doing on the new Creekside Gym.
Lowery said, “We’d love to be in there before the first of the year, but I have no idea how long it may take.”
Even though a new fire station will be closer to some, it’s always best to call 911 in an emergency and not a direct line to the station. “They could be out of the station answering another call. So always dial 911. We will be happy to assist,” Lowery said.
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