It’s official: Construction of a new fire station is scheduled to begin on city property on Popp’s Ferry Road east of Cedar Lake Road in the next few weeks, and the new station should be operational this time next year.
The station, known as Station 7, will be a 13,000-square-foot fire command station to serve the areas north of the Bay of Biloxi.
Renderings of Fire Station No. 7, designed by architect Mark Williams.
“We want to thank Southern Mississippi Planning and Development District,which worked with us on the financing for this $4 million station,” Mayor Andrew “FoFo” Gilich said. “This station has been a long time coming, and we’re pleased to be able to move forward with this project.”
The City Council recently awarded a contract to the Biloxi firm Starks Contracting to build the new station. Planning continues for a second station, Station 10, on Old Highway 67, east of Cedar Lake Road.
Biloxi Fire Chief Joe Boney said Station 7 will typically be staffed by as many as eight firefighters, along with a Battalion Chief, and the station will have three engine bays, including room for a 75-foot ladder truck now housed at Station 6, at the Margaret Sherry Library. The battalion chief is moving his office from Station 9 at Eagle Point, and the fire department’s training operations also will be moved to Station 7.
“Mayor Gilich and the City Council recognized the case we made for constructing this larger station,” Boney said. “This area north of the Bay has seen significant demographic changes in recent years. We’ve see new medical facilities, new retirement facilities, new apartment complexes, new businesses and new subdivisions. We now have a huge high school, a huge junior high school and an elementary school in this station’s run. None of these things were there when the city planned this station years ago.
Added Boney: “The mayor and council recognized these things and they have made sure we have the firefighters and the assets where they need to be so we can respond appropriately.”
