Modern Fire Station For Beulah Moves Much Closer To Becoming Reality

March 9, 2020

A modern fire station for the Beulah Fire Station has moved much closer to becoming a reality soon.

In June 2018, Escambia County made a $300,000 offer to purchase the fire station property at 6400 West Nine Mile Road from the non-profit Beulah Volunteer Fire Department, Inc. The property is about six acres with a 6,000 square foot fire station building. A portion of the property had a reverter clause that would return that portion of the property to the Emerald Coast Utilities Authority, but ECUA agreed to release the claim.

The purchase was not complete until last week, delayed by missing paperwork and other delays that “just dragged on and on”, according to Commissioner Jeff Bergosh, who represents the Beulah area.

The next steps include funding a design firm to assess what is there at the current station and determine what’s needed for a next generation Beulah Fire Station. They will create a plan to renovate the existing facility and add on to meet the requirements. The plan will be developed in coordination with the firefighters and county facilities staff, Bergosh said.

Bergosh has allowed $1 million for discretionary local option sales tax (LOST) funds and there is $1.5 million allocated from LOST III monies for the Beulah Fire Station upgrades — for a total project budget of $2.5 million.

He said that’s enough to fund larger bay doors to accommodate a ladder truck; proper kitchen, bathroom, bunkhouse and meeting facilities; and take care of  an overall modernization of the dated facility.

“Beulah is a growing area and Beulah’s firefighters and residents deserve the best fire facility and equipment we can get them,” he said.

In advance of the fire station upgrades, Bergosh allocated up to $10,000 in discretionary spending for new twin mattresses for their makeshift bunk room and a new commercial grade washer and dryer to replace 25-year old equipment.

File photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.

Comments

3 Responses to “Modern Fire Station For Beulah Moves Much Closer To Becoming Reality”

  1. Mike swathwood on March 9th, 2020 2:15 pm

    Soooo when will we get an actual 24hr career personnel at this station?

  2. Olin Schultz on March 9th, 2020 8:49 am

    While we can agree that sometimes changes are good, after all the blood sweat and tears that have been shed up there, I am sure that the Twilleys are rolling in their graves knowing that their donated land will not be used for its purpose! Gone are the days of the old are gone

  3. Tony Dean on March 9th, 2020 6:39 am

    All of it sounds great but we NEED a full-time crew in Beulah.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News