Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, Tupelo
Work ready to begin on Saltillo’s first stand-alone fire station
By William Moore
SALTILLO – Dirt work could begin on the construction of the city of Saltillo’s first stand-alone fire station as soon as this month.
“Everything is on schedule. I’ve already signed off on the final plans,” Saltillo Mayor Copey Grantham said. “We are waiting on the final drawings from the architect to submit it for construction bids. It should be ready to move in by the middle of next summer.”
The fire station's scale has been trimmed several times since its proposal more than a year ago. Increases in construction costs have forced the project's downsizing from 10,000 square feet to around 4,000 square feet.
The original plan called for three large double bays, each capable of housing two engines parked nose to tail. Current plans feature two smaller bays, but they were designed to accommodate the ladder truck the department will need soon.
Originally, plans also called for separate office spaces for the fire chief, deputy chief and shift captain, along with beds for five firefighters. That design would have accommodated the switch in the future from a volunteer force to paid fire fighters on three shifts. To save money, a single office shared by the chief, deputy chief and shift captain will hold the department's administrative side.
But the redesign of the fire station was not just reducing the size or eliminating features.
“We also extended a wall so that we could have two different bedrooms and two separate bathrooms,” Grantham said. “That was in case we ever have a female firefighter. We’ll be ready.”
Each of the two bedrooms can easily sleep three people, which would still facilitate a switch to three shifts.
The new station will have several features to make life easier for the firefighters. A circle drive will eliminate the need to back the fire engines into the bay. Instead, the fire engine will drive around to the rear of the building and pull through a second door in the back of the bay.
“And the floor of the bays will be in a V-shape and have drains,” Grantham said. “That’s so they can wash the truck inside during cold weather.”
The $1.9 million structure, to be built on Turner Industrial Park Road, will be named for Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, who helped secure state funding for the bulk costs. The Mississippi legislature set aside $1.5 million for the project, and the United States Department of Agriculture should appropriate another $400,000 thanks to U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith.
“We are supposed to get final approval of that appropriation in January,” Grantham said. “If something happens and were don’t get it, the board of aldermen has already agreed to get a (general obligation) bond to pay for it.”
If the federal money does come through, the city will save its money to pay for a new ladder truck. When the state fire ratings bureau visited in February 2023, they said the department had exceeded its capacity and needed ladder truck, which will not fit in the current station.
Since the summer of 2001, the Saltillo Fire Department has been housed in a 58,000-square-foot former furniture factory, along with city administration and courts, as well as the water, police and public works departments. That building is 50 years old and no longer suits the needs of the fire department.
The Saltillo Fire Department is a hybrid, with a handful of full-time employees augmented by up to 30 volunteer firefighters. In recent years, the number of full-time employees has grown to six and allows at least one to be on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The department has held a Class 6 rating from the Mississippi State Rating Bureau since 2017. In order to drop to a Class 5 rating, one thing the city would have to do is staff all three shifts with at least three firefighters.