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Tenn. Fire, EMS Squads Return Home After Mold Fix

Tim Hodge

Jan. 29--MT. PLEASANT -- After more than a year, the city's firefighters are finally back home.

The Mt. Pleasant Fire Department, 1158 N. Main St., was vacated in November 2013 after mold was found throughout the building. Operations were relocated to a facility at 1540 Trilogy Lane, about three miles north of the former location.

The fire department's HVAC system was malfunctioning and allowing water to build up, creating the mold problem.

Crews still have a few finishing touches before completing the move, which has come with a few hiccups.

While moving items from Trilogy Lane back to the Main Street location on Friday, the department received a structure fire call on Tulip Street.

"The guys on duty dropped what they were carrying in, put their gear on and down the road they went, and actually saved the house ... a room was destroyed, but they were doing their job while actually moving," Assistant Fire Chief Phillip Grooms said Wednesday.

The crew went right back to moving after the call.

"No breaks," MPFD firefighter Devin Dickey, smiling.

Getting back in the fire station has been a community effort with many people donating time and services to moving back to the building, which also houses Maury Regional Medical Center EMS services.

The mold removal project was estimated to cost upwards of $100,000.

Byron Taylor, Taylor Environmental Services president, worked with the city at no cost to find a solution to the department's mold problem. Taylor, who is also an environmental engineer, already was in the city overseeing a clean-up effort for residential properties that were contaminated with lead.

He determined a faulty HVAC system was to blame. In December, city commissioners approved Nashville-based Cool Air Solutions LLC's bid of $21,173 for a new HVAC system and other improvements.

"I can't say enough about him. Without him, we would not be here," Grooms said. "Mr. Taylor, he saved us ... and then it's just the fact that everybody working together while on duty saved the city a lot of money. This was still an expensive project, but I would say it was half of what the cost would have been."

Taylor worked with the firefighters and trained them to be mold remediators, one of his specialties. It was a case of being in the right place at the right time, he said.

"The thing that should be stressed here is that people contributed their time and effort at no, or very little, cost to the community," Taylor said.

Nathan Keeton, a Columbia firefighter, and Wesley Taylor both work at the MPFD part-time and helped rehabilitate the fire station when they could.

Wesley Taylor has a cabinet business and built new cupboards for the newly-remodeled fire station, Grooms said.

"Not only them, I can't say enough for the full-timers here. They would come in on their off days -- not comp time, not overtime -- just to help get back in this station," Grooms said.

MPFD has 12 firefighters, who each work varying 24-hour shifts, and two administrators -- Chief Tim Smith and Grooms. Work began after Thanksgiving and was mostly completed last weekend, Grooms said.

Excluding the HVAC work, Mt. Pleasant firefighters did the majority of the work, he added.

The fire station also received a new coat of paint, lighting, floors and molding. Firefighters built new bunk beds to use space more efficiently for those who stay over night.

"The credit needs to go to them," Grooms said. "It was a daily process. There was some type of work going on in here every day, in between our emergency response times."

Grooms also wanted to thank Danny Simmons, Maury Regional Medical Center EMS assistant supervisor, for helping with the move on Friday while it was raining. Simmons also helped Saturday on his day off, Grooms said.

During the restoration process, Grooms said workers at the local Lowe's provided pointers on construction materials and methods, which helped save money.

"This is home for us," Dickey said. "I was one of the (people) who was here before we moved out ... and coming back and everything is all shiny, polished and mold-free," Dickey said. "Man, it's good to be home."

Copyright 2015 - The Daily Herald, Columbia, Tenn.

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