BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C.–Officials finally broke ground Wednesday on the highly anticipated fire station for the growing Cane Bay area.
“We started this project in 2015. In 2020, the station will be open. It’s taken us five years of hard, dedicated work to make this happen,” stated Whitesville Rural Fire Chief Timothy Stephenson.
The 8,000 square foot facility will be the first of its kind, according to Stephenson.
“This will be the first time in Berkeley County that we will have truly not just a fire station, but in reality, it will be a public service station,” he stated during the groundbreaking. “It will have the fire service in it. It will have the sheriff’s office in it, and it will have EMS.”
During Wednesday’s ceremony, Stephenson thanked Ben Grambling, the developer of Cane Bay, who donated the nearly 3-acre piece of property.
“The property is worth about $480,000 and had he not allowed us to put that fire station here in the middle of the Cane Bay subdivision, we’d still be probably floundering in the water,” stated Stephenson.
The price tag to build the fire station is estimated to be around $3.3 million, according to a representative with the United States Department of Agriculture who also attended the groundbreaking. The USDA provided the WRFD with a low-interest loan to help construct the new station.
Via Whitesville Rural Fire Dept.
“We are the only federal agency that solely focuses on the needs of rural residents, businesses and communities. We understand the values and importance of having up-to-date facilities,” stated the USDA spokesperson during the event. “We recognize that there’s a lot of red tape here, but with great determination, you made it to this point, and we are excited to see this groundbreaking begin.”
The new fire station is scheduled to open in the spring of 2020.
“We all have one mission and this is to protect the citizens of Berkeley County, and this fire station will ensure that the people of the Cane Bay area are protected well,” stated Stephenson.
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