City workers raze old fire station

Oct. 29--TUPELO -- What the April 2014 tornado didn't destroy of former Fire Station No. 4, heavy equipment did Wednesday morning.

The building on Rial Drive, just off North Gloster Street, was decommissioned as a fire station in June 2010. The station was being used to store city records when the tornado ripped the roof off and scattered papers as far away as Burnsville, some 50 miles away in Tishomingo County.

The city delayed demolition of the damaged building more than a year as it sought funding through a Federal Emergency Management Agency pilot program that would have provided nearly $500,000 to help the city create a permanent storage location for archiving old files.

"We actually had the demolition permit for most of the summer," said Public Works director Chuck Williams, "but the city was still in talks with FEMA. Once we got the go-ahead, it didn't take long."

An excavator started knocking down the brick-clad concrete block walls Tuesday afternoon. By early Wednesday morning, it was reduced to a series of piles of rubble.

The majority of the debris will be recycled or reused, according to Williams. The metal will be sold as scrap. The wood will be hauled to a green landfill. The brick and blocks will be saved.

Workers should have the site reduced to the concrete slab by the end of the week. The next step is to remove the slab and concrete driveway all the way up to the side street.

The lot will likely be put on the market for commercial development.

"FEMA approved the demolition of the building and have obligated us about $500,000 to rebuild," said city chief operating officer Don Lewis. "Instead of rebuilding, we now have to get them to approve an alternate project, which is converting the old police station on Front Street into city court. We have not submitted that alternate project yet."

The renovations, upgrades and addition -- which include a larger, 150-seat courtroom and a storm shelter -- would cost $2.1 million based on 2014 estimates. The city has $150,000 reserved for renovating municipal court. There is another $100,000 in insurance money for the destroyed fire station. The FEMA money, along with the proceeds of selling the old fire station property, would give the city nearly $1 million toward the project.

william.moore@journalinc.com

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