By Mike Haskey
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
COLUMBUS, Ga. — Imagine a grand opening ceremony without a ribbon to cut. Instead, picture sections of fire hose coupled together, spanning the width of the building. Then, in seconds, the hose is uncoupled, and the public is invited in to see the city’s newest fire station.
Columbus Fire and EMS hosted the uncoupling ceremony Tuesday afternoon to celebrate the official opening of its new Fire Station 5 and highlight new technology installed to improve the health and wellness of the department’s personnel.
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“Firefighters do uncoupling of hose every day at structure fires,” said Sal Scarpa, chief of Columbus Fire and EMS. “They couple the hose together. They uncouple the hose. It’s something that’s part of our, ingrained in our tradition.”
He said the uncoupling ceremony is a way to welcome people in the community into the new fire station.
The new fire station is at 6600 Lynch Road in Midland.
“This is the area of great growth in Columbus,” Scarpa said, “so it’s important that we have resources that are here that can manage that growth.”
A new Station 5 was needed because the former one across the street was in disrepair, Scarpa said.
“Quite frankly,” he said, “it was becoming a little bit more of a challenge to maintain that facility than it was worth.”
Pratt & Whitney donated land for the new station, Scarpa said, and money from a Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) was used to build it. He said construction costs totaled nearly $5 million. Six fire department personnel are usually stationed there, along with one engine and one ambulance.
“This station has some of that technology built into it to allow our firefighters to live healthier lifestyles here, not only with the health and wellness equipment they have but within each of the bunks,” Scarpa said. “Each of the bunks has some technology associated with their particular apparatus, so that when their apparatus is called out, the lights in their bunk room come on, and an alert lets them know that that call is specifically for them.”
Scarpa said the new station has a gym and an outdoor recreation area, where staff can relax after their calls. Bunks and personal lockers are in individual rooms.
“For our men and women, we want them to know that we recognize that we have challenges with some of our facilities, and we’re working to rectify those challenges,” Scarpa said. “This is an excellent example of how we rectify those challenges.
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