Mobile officials gathered Thursday morning in the Crichton area to cut the ribbon on the "mother of all fire stations in the area," as one of them described it.
That was Councilman Fred Richardson, who had obvious reason to be delighted that the city's newest public safety facility was in his District 1. But Mayor Sandy Stimpson, Public Safety Director James Barber and Mobile Fire-Rescue Chief Mark Sealy said it was a big step forward for the city as a whole and a sign of things to come.
Sealy said the four-bay, 12,000-square foot facility allowed the department to put more assets closer to I-65, a key to improving their ability to go wherever needed. Those assets include a ladder truck formerly stationed on Lafayette Street, and what had been the sole unit stationed at the Ashland Station on Old Shell Road.