Photo: Fire Chief Johnny Eason and Mayor Ken Adams cut the ribbon to officially open the new Olive Branch Fire Administration Building on Goodman Road new the Wesson House. (Bob Bakken/desotocountynews.com)
The Olive Branch Fire Department on Friday, March 22, celebrated the opening of its new Fire Administration building, located next to the Wesson House at 9065 Goodman Road. A ribbon cutting event was held and tours of the building took place to show where fire department officials will now locate.
Mayor Ken Adams said the department now has 125 employees, led by Fire Chief Johnny Eason. That number includes firefighters, ambulance personnel, dispatch, and EMS. There are currently five fire stations manned by the department with plans to break ground later this year on a sixth fire station near state Highway 302 and Center Hill Road.
Adams noted in his remarks that Mississippi has only five cities that municipally owned EMS services, adding, “We’re fortunate to have EMS in the city and several cities in DeSoto County have EMS, but statewide that is not the norm.”
Fire Chief Johnny Eason and Mayor Ken Adams
Eason calls the move to a new administration building a great “morale booster” for the department. He said the building was previously a mixed-use location before the city purchased it.
“Everybody had a different office wing and it was for sale for several years,” Eason said, adding the move to purchase the building came after Eason and his deputy fire chief saw that it was for sale.
“We drove by and a car was parked here and it happened to be the owner,” Eason said. “We asked him if he had any luck selling and he said, ‘not really.’ I asked if he would mind that I contact the mayor and have him take a look at it.”
Eason said one thing led to another and the eventual purchase and approval by the Board of Aldermen, a process that had been going on for about eight months. The purchase closing took place last fall.
The new building will be the central location for department administration and the fire prevention part of the department. Administration will be on the main floor and fire prevention will be on the second floor.
“They handle all of the plans, reviews, and all of the construction projects that are going on in the city,” said Eason. “So, anybody needs to pay a fee, or a building permit or a fire permit, they would come here to do that.”
