GULF SHORES – Gulf Shores Fire Chief Hartly Brokenshaw was really hoping to be on hand when the main concrete was poured for the new Fire Station No. 1 going up next to City Hall.

“They got it in just before rains set in,” Brokenshaw said. “Started at 1 o’clock Friday morning (June8).”

As luck would have it, however, Brokenshaw had to miss it.

“I had timed this thing every time where I’m going to be here, I’m going to be here,” he said. “And they kept doing this and this and the next thing you know, I couldn’t be here.

“They were supposed to start on Wednesday morning at 3 o’clock and they put it off. And about 2 a.m. on Wednesday a lightning bolt hit and it started raining so I was glad they didn’t start. And it wasn’t supposed to rain Friday so somebody was looking over us real well on that one.”

Brokenshaw had obligations out of town but he still heard about the deluge that started late Friday and went through Sunday. When he got back into town he knew where he was going first.

“When I got to where I was at all I heard was how hard it was raining that day and I thought, ‘oh, no,’” he said. “So when I got back the first thing I did was go over and look at it. They did a good job. Apparently they got it in right before it started raining. They got everything in. I’m glad it wasn’t raining like it was Saturday.”

Public Works Director Mark Acreman said the workers moved quickly to get the concrete set before the rains set in.

“That was some of the quickest finishing work I’d ever seen,” Acreman said. “They were like a small army out there.”

Brokenshaw said anxious moments aside, he’s glad they got it in and can proceed with his department’s new headquarters.

“The biggest thing is we have concrete next door,” he said with a grin. “They’ve got it poured. It’s probably going to be six to eight weeks before they get the steel in and start on the upright part. There’s a lot of things that can be done on site. Conduits and things to get power in and other things going on. It’s going in.”

In other department news, Brokenshaw said firefighters from around the state are in town for training.

“We started the Firefighter I and Firefighter II classes,” he said. “We’ve got students from Guntersville, Demopolis, Anniston, Chelsea and Orange Beach and Bay Minette. We’re housing them up at the Oyster Bay fire house. They are down here for the next eight weeks going through the class.”

Some of his firefighters are in the classes and instructors with the Gulf Shores department will get credit as well.

“The good thing is we were able to bring them in and take our five that we had in the class, we were able to teach the class, do all the work and plus we can get all our training credits in for the teaching.”

And take the opportunity to recruit some tourists.

“Then we introduce all them to Gulf Shores and they’ll bring people down with ‘em to come back and visit,” Brokenshaw said.