Jeff Kline sorted pieces of wood, copper and concrete Friday as he and Billy Minton tore down part of Gainesville's old public safety building.

Kline and Minton, workers with Tristar Demolition, started breaking up the old jail on Jesse Jewell Parkway this week and plan to work on the fire station section next week.

"We're salvaging the materials, recycling the concrete and stripping the wood," Minton, the site superintendent, said Friday morning. "We're also getting out the pipe and removing the insulation, slowly separating the different parts."

Minton knocked the back wall off the jail with a large demolition excavator claw and Kline used a large hose to spray a mist of water on the wall to control dust.

"We deal with some hazardous conditions out here," said Minton, who has also supervised large-scale demolitions in Marietta, Columbus and Gwinnett County. "There's falling debris and dust, and we removed asbestos last week."

Tristar will complete the project for $113,000, which includes the two-story building and one-story gun range, abatement of floor tile and pipe insulation and removal of asphalt and concrete from the area.

"It's a bittersweet goodbye," Gainesville Fire Chief Jon Canada said Friday afternoon. "I drove by this morning and saw them starting to work on it and took a few pictures. One of my guys called me earlier and said he was sick to his stomach. I told him to do what I did and just leave."

Though sad to see the walls fall, Canada said he is also excited about the development along the midtown area, especially as firefighters settle into Fire Station 1 on Queen City Parkway.

"The Jesse Jewell location served us well for so many years, and so many of our firefighters served their entire career at that station," he said. "Now something else will take its place, and it's great to see the progress and new development that will enhance the city and change the downtown area tremendously."

Once demolition is complete, Rogers Bridge Co. of Covington will begin construction on a pedestrian bridge that will connect downtown Gainesville to midtown.

With a contract of $2.18 million, the company will build a bridge similar to the design featured on the sign posted at Jesse Jewell Parkway and Main Street, which includes a concrete base, metal handrails and fencing along the sides.

Projected to be 450 feet long and 10 feet wide, it will span the four-lane road from the west side of the Georgia Mountains Center to the demolished public safety building area.

Under a six-month contract, the bridge should be complete before August.

Developers of City View, a planned 10-story office building and hotel featured as the keystone of redeveloping midtown, are paying for the bridge, and the city will later reimburse up to $3 million once a contract goes out for the project.

Police, fire and Municipal Court officials moved into the new Queen City Parkway complex in November.

"We're really enjoying it and getting settled in. Everyone is getting used to it," Canada said. "We're looking forward to many great years that will provide us as well as the old place did."

The Jesse Jewell building opened Oct. 31, 1975, when police, fire and municipal officials moved over from the basement of the Green Street city hall building.

Built with no windows except for the ones featured in the front doors, the building was created to be completely secure.

"It was a state-of-the-art facility then, and now we're going into a new facility that is again state-of-the-art," said Gainesville City Council member Bob Hamrick, who served on the council during the 1975 dedication. "I think our community deserves a great public safety facility."

Both the police and fire departments gained national accreditations during their stay in the Jesse Jewell location.

"It speaks to the professionalism they provide each day to our citizens," Hamrick said. "We're also excited about the new bridge and development coming, which is another great statement that progress is happening."

As Kline pulled debris from the old building Friday, he set aside materials that Canada's firefighters can use during training.

The Georgia Emergency Management Agency handpicked Gainesville to be a Georgia Search and Rescue Program host site, which means firefighters are trained to respond to emergencies in GEMA's 24-county Area 1 region, which includes Hall, Jackson, Banks and White counties.

Gainesville's search and rescue team members must complete 400 hours of training each, including techniques with rope rescues, confined spaces and structural collapses. Firefighters will use tangled steel and concrete as props for the structural collapse training.

"It's exciting to get a piece of our old station to do our training work," Canada said.