By Stefanie Bainum
sbainum@abcnews4.com
CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) – Friday marks a new chapter for the Charleston Fire Department. At 10 a.m. Friday morning, a groundbreaking ceremony will be held for a new state-of-the-art fire station.
Located at the intersection of King and Heriot Streets, the Charleston Fire Department's future Fire Station Number 9 will hold much more than just fire trucks.
The 18,000 square foot building is two stories and will be able to fit five different emergency vehicles at the same time. Along with fire trucks, the building will be home to a hazmat unit and administrative offices for the city's fire chief and staff.
The structure is designed to meet LEED silver standards. Architect of the project, Steve Coe of Rosenblum Coe Architects, says this means it will be built with recycled materials and will be energy efficient.
"The station itself is certainly a contemporary building and architecture. We did try to incorporate brick, I think there is a long history of fire stations and mason structures with brick, but it is a current facility so we thought it should be contemporary," Steve Coe says.
Coe says he is looking forward to the groundbreaking as it is a project many years in the making.
"We are excited about it, we've been working on this project for over two years and anything we do for the city certainly we are excited about," Coe said. "But I think for the fire department itself, we have done some other stations for them, and the firemen really get excited about it."
"They are happy to see that the funding has come to them and it is really going to be a great building, very safe building, to help them do what they need to do."
The project is expected to be complete towards the end of 2013.
(Felicia Allyn/WCIV)
