New fire station to be built in Gulfport

A new fire station is in the works in Gulfport.

Gulfport City Council approved the $2.7 million finance package for a new fire station in district 3. The new fire station will replace station 9 and it will be located about 300 yards from the current station.

The building that holds station 9 now was never built to be a fire station and it has caused a lot of issues for the fire fighters over the past 20 years. Gulfport Fire Chief Michael Beyerstedt said, “Facilities that are there that will be better for us as far as getting carbon monoxide out of the engine base. It will be a safer place for our firefighters to inhabit because one of the big legislative pushes right now is cancer prevention in the fire service and among our first responders. We will be able to have the CO removal system in the garage so that the diesel soot that comes from these fire trucks isn’t getting on our gear and it isn’t getting on our first responders.”

Chief Beyerstedt hopes the new station will be up and running about a year from now.