New fire station coming to Grenada
GRENADA, Miss. (WCBI) – In an emergency, seconds matter.
And in Grenada, those seconds increased when the city lost one of its four fire stations in 2022.
With that loss, the city’s Fire Department’s rating became at risk.
“With the geographical footprint of Grenada, we’re required to have four fire stations. And that’s due to distance between any given location in the city and this station here, once it’s up again and running. It will improve response times drastically,” said Deputy Fire Chief Blaine Adams.
Now, work is set to begin on a new Fire Station, replacing the old Station One.
Leaders say that without it, insurance rates could become higher for residents and businesses.
“Oh, my goodness, number one, I feel great that this opportunity has come before us. It’s improving the morale of our fire personnel. It’s going to be better housing for them and everything. Most importantly, it’s going to make our citizens safer,” said Grenada Mayor Charles H. Latham.
The new station will be located right next to the Emergency Operations Center, near the old station’s location on Van Dorn Street.
There are 13, 500 residents in Grenada, and quarter of those residents will be in the new station’s district– making it easier for firefighters to respond to calls.
“Usually any, what we would call a working call a working fire, we send all station to those calls, but when you’re close to that location station, of course that response time is cut down tremendously,” said Grenada Deputy Fire Chief
One fire truck and three to five firefighters will be housed in the Central Fire Station.
“We’ve been running a fire department that’s made for four stations out of three stations, so now we have room for the apparatus, to house the apparatus, house the staffing that we already have in place,” said Adams.
The Grenada Fire Department’s current rating is 4, with 1 being the most advanced on the grading scale.
Leaders believe the new station will have a long-lasting impact on the city.
“We are going to maintain that level four fire rating that we have and perhaps go down in the future as a result of this fire station,” said Latham.
State representatives helped fund the fire station with a $600,000 grant.
Work is expected to start on the new Grenada station within the next week and be completed by early November.
