BFD Training Facility
Published 12:00 am Tuesday, June 12, 2012
By John Howell Sr
Batesville firemen and city employees will construct a training facility from discarded cargo containers if the mayor and aldermen approve a request from fire chief Tim Taylor and training officer Cowles Horton.
The request for in-house construction came after proposals to have the structure built by an outside contractor exceeded the $50,000 budget that comes from a bequest to the fire department from the late Elizabeth Florence. Firemen want to modify the discarded cargo containers into a training structure located on city-owned property at the wastewater treatment plant on the corner of Panola and Bright streets.
Taylor told aldermen that various city employees had the skills needed to cut and weld several containers into configurations that will provide realistic settings for search and rescue and other training.
“Where does out liability stand?” Alderman Eddie Nabors asked.
The mayor and aldermen told Taylor and Horton to inform insurance agent Perrin Caldwell about their plans to determine what liability the city would have with its own employees building the structure.
“I’m not opposed to it,” Nabors said.
In other fire department business during last week’s meeting, aldermen approved the fire chief’s request to move firefighter Jordon Ethridge from part-time to full-time status. Ethridge will replace Justin Bright, who has resigned.
The firemen also asked Assistant City Attorney Colmon Mitchell to review terms of a $700 grant from the Mississippi State Department of Health that would be used to offset costs of the summer children’s fire prevention camps.