NESBIT, MS (abc24.com) - Where do you go during a disaster if you're home's destroyed and you have nowhere else to turn? DeSoto County is taking a different approach to emergency assistance.
The county's newest fire station will be more than just an engine house. The Nesbit Volunteer Fire Station is almost complete. When finished, it will be one of best places to go during an emergency.
"If we have any type disaster, ice storm, tornado, anything like that," says EMS Chief Bobby Storey. The county always opens up its fire stations to the public, but this one will be special.
"It's more tailored to that community," Storey tells abc24.com. "In a disaster you don't know how many roads may be closed and they can't get out. The station may be the only place they can go to have heat or a meal."
Nesbit's building was designed to accommodate residents with special needs.
"If they don't have electricity and they're on oxygen and they need to fill their cylinders they can come to the fire station. We'll have backup generators in place."
"It's a big improvement," says Captain Daniel Loomis. He's been with the department for ten years.
"We have 25 volunteers and cover 20 square miles. Where we're at now isn't up to our standards. We have nice equipment, we just need a new place to house it."
"It's a start," says Storey. "It's a small start. It's a step forward. I see this progressing more and more."
Storey says similar sub-stations will be built in the future to keep up with the growth. Nesbit's cost about $600,000.
