Construction for Fire Station No. 1 on McElroy Drive is seen Monday. Photo: Logan Kirkland, The Daily Mississippian.
The Oxford Fire Department plans to finish construction of its new Fire Station No. 1 on Dec. 2. The site is located on McElroy Drive beside the existing Oxford Post Office.
Construction on the project began in March as a part of a larger reshuffling of facilities to compensate for the growth and changes in Oxford.
The new station will replace the existing Fire Station Nos. 1 and 2 until the department relocates the current Fire Station No. 2 to Sisk Avenue near the Oxford Conference Center and the new Oxford High School.
“We’re sort of playing hopscotch, trying to realign the stations in Oxford and better position ourselves,” Oxford Fire Department Chief Cary Sallis said.
Fire Captain Jason Gossett commented on the need for reorganization of the department’s network of stations.
“Anything we can get to help add personnel, to better our location and to get to different locations because Oxford’s growing so much makes a difference in how prepared we can be,” Gossett said.
The temporary operation of three stations instead of four will not affect university or city fire protection during construction, according to Sallis. The two-story, four-base station will be larger than the existing Fire Station Nos. 1 and 2 and facilitate future growth within the department, according to Sallis.
“The new Station No. 1 gives us room to continue the growth we’ve had,” Sallis said. “The department has grown tremendously since the 1970s when we had maybe three or four guys on shift.”
The department is also seeking to acquire a roughly 1.5-acre plot for a training facility adjacent to the new, 1.8-acre Fire Station No. 1 plot. The training facility would greatly increase the department’s capacity to train and drill on-site, particularly in live fire scenarios.
“We average maybe three or four actual structure fires per year, and the issue is that you risk getting a little rusty,” Sallis said.
Lafayette County volunteer firefighter and senior mechanical engineering major Jeremy Roy noted the convenience such a facility would bring to local firefighters.
“Firefighters in the area basically all have to make a trip at one point or another to the Mississippi Fire Academy in Jackson,” Roy said. “They have a lot of resources there, but you have to travel and take time off. Having those resources here would make it so much easier for the city and maybe the county.”
Also adjacent to the future Fire Station No. 1 is the construction site for the future Oxford Emergency Operations Center. The Oxford Emergency Management Agency began construction after receiving a $750,000 grant for the project from FEMA in 2011.
Oxford Emergency Management Agency Director Jimmy Allgood expressed the value of the facility to the region and local community.
“I really think it’s going to be an asset to the community to have a dedicated Emergency Operations Center where we conduct the necessary operations during global or regional disasters and emergencies,” Allgood said.
The Oxford Fire Department has about 60 full-time firemen and 15 reserves. The fire department currently has a class five fire rating with the state insurance rating bureau, according to the city of Oxford’s website.
— Drew Jansen
ajjansen@go.olemiss.edu
