SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The new fire building in the city of South Charleston is expected to be completed by late spring.
Fire Chief John Taylor said at the city’s council meeting last week that the over $2 million facility is nearing completion.
“They’ve made excellent progress. They’ve now got the windows in, they’re starting to put the concrete in for the driveways for the trucks,” he said. “The inside–they’re starting to hang drywall. They’re moving along; they’re saying we should be in it by mid-May.”
Taylor said the new building would be a tremendous upgrade over the current headquarters.
“The old building was just worn out. This building is going to be leaps and bounds ahead of the old building,” he said. “We’re going to have a room we can use for a classroom for training, it’s going to have an emergency generator where if we have a large power outage, we can use it as a shelter for residents. It’s just going to be such a better building than our old one.”
Currently, the fire department holds classes around the kitchen table, Taylor said. South Charleston Mayor Frank Mullens said the new facility would be one of the state’s nicest.
“It’ll be a state-of-the-art fire station. It’ll be one of the best fire stations in the state of West Virginia,” Mullens said. “We’re excited about it, our firefighters are excited about it. It’ll be a great addition to our downtown area along with our great public service.”
A time capsule was recently discovered in the cornerstone of the old building, which Taylor said they’ll open during the city’s Armed Forces Day parade on May 21.
“Nobody has a clue what’s in it,” Taylor said. “So on the 21st, we’re going to try and do a ceremony and open it up and see what’s in it. The old building was built in 1960, it’s been in there (since then) and no one has a clue.”
The cornerstone of the old building will also be added to the new one.
“Modern architecture, modern technology…that’s what we’ve been trying to preach around here since 2007,” Mullens said of his tenure as mayor. “To be leaders in those areas. I think we’re accomplishing that and this another example of that.”
Mullens said the building would also feature a modern coded alarm system with different sounds based on the type of emergency.
“It’s going to be a showpiece. It’s being done right,” Taylor confirmed.