Columbus residents express concerns about use of inactive fire station

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – A Columbus City Councilman raises concerns about the use of a decommissioned fire station.

Councilman Stephen Jones contacted Mayor Keith Gaskin and other council members about activity around and possibly in the former Fire Station Number 4 at the corner of Airline and McCrary Roads.

The comments ranged from seeing lights on to seeing people in the building, which is supposed to be closed.

A nearby ministry that helps men transition from substance abuse back into the workforce and society has been in negotiations with the city about leasing or buying the building.

There were concerns that someone might be living in the building.

Mayor Gaskin reached out to members of the ministry, and a councilman did a walk-through of the Fire Station to check on things.

“From the discussions and questions we’ve asked, I know one council member went inside and looked around, and saw the lights were on. We’ve determined why the lights were on. He told me it did not look like to him that anybody had been staying in there or anything like that. So, I think it’s a big to-do about nothing really. We do want to make sure that any facilities the city owns are not being used if it’s not proper for people to do that,” said Gaskin.

Power is still connected and the lights are sometimes on at the former fire station because Lowndes County EMA still maintains a tornado siren at the site.

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