Bogue Chitto Volunteer Fire Department officials have begun theprocess of building a new fire station and are hoping for somecommunity support to help them do it.

Chief Sedgie Mercier said the department recently bought twoacres of land for the new station to be built near the intersectionof Highway 51 and Bogue Chitto Road. Part of the land was beingcleared over the weekend and a vacant house was to be torn down inthe future.

The fire station will be 40 feet by 100 feet and have three baysfor trucks, Mercier said.

“The building we’re wanting to build is going to cost usanywhere from $35,000 to $40,000,” he said.

Mercier said he hoped to have enough money to be able toconstruct the new station in about six months. However, the stationconstruction schedule will depend on funding availability.

“Our money’s hard to come by,” Mercier said, while explaininghow the department’s funds come from a portion of a small propertytax levy, state fire insurance premium rebates and fund-raisingefforts. “We’re hoping the community will take part in this andhelp us out.”

Established in 1972, Bogue Chitto is the county’s oldestvolunteer fire department. The department now has 17 volunteerfirefighters and two stations.

The main station is on Yellow Pine Street in Bogue Chitto andhouses three trucks and a rescue vehicle, Mercier said. A satellitestation is located in Arlington and has one truck.

The new station, which would be more centrally located, willreplace the main station, Mercier said. The old station propertywould revert to the original landowner.

“This is something we need big time,” Mercier said of the newstation. “We have outgrown ourselves.”