Construction is nearly complete for the new relocated North First Station in Laurinburg. The facility, located on Aberdeen Road has five bays, a training area and living quarters.
Tomeka Sinclair | The Laurinburg Exchange
The original North Fire Station, housed on North Main Street, was severely damaged in 2018 by Hurricane Florence. The facility, located on Aberdeen Road has five bays, a training area and living quarters.
Tomeka Sinclair | The Laurinburg Exchange
The original North Fire Station, housed on North Main Street, was severely damaged in 2018 by Hurricane Florence. The facility, located on Aberdeen Road has five bays, a training area and living quarters.
Tomeka Sinclair | The Laurinburg Exchange
LAURINBURG —This week, nearly two years after ground first broke on the construction of the North Fire Station on Aberdeen Road, Laurinburg’s city Manager revealed that city staff will soon start occupying the newly constructed facility but slammed the breaks on a grand opening celebration.
“I think after almost six years we’re trying to see the light at the end of the tunnel … It’s taken us this long to get to the finish line,” said Charles Nichols.
The original North Fire Station, housed on North Main Street, was severely damaged in 2018 by Hurricane Florence. According to the National Weather Service, an estimated 74,563 structures were flooded during Hurricane Florence and statewide preliminary damage was estimated at $16.7 billion.
The “light at the tunnel” will hopefully come by the end of the month. The city manager told council members this week that the Richmond County-based contractor, Hawks Construction, is working on obtaining a Certificate of Occupancy so staff can begin moving into the facility by early August.
“We’re going to start moving a lot of material in … You might see more movement out there in the next few weeks which is good but we really want to be able to celebrate this thing,” Nichols said.
The city manager said the hope is that the council will “wait for a big grand ribbon cutting, partnering with the chamber, celebrating that. We’re hoping to do that early fall.”
The reason for further delay is to wait for temperatures to cool and to work out some finishing touches on the facility.
“There are some things we want to do once construction is done just to kind of touch up the interior and exterior and do some things that weren’t in the construction,” Nichols said.
The new station is bigger and better. The five-bay facility is complete with a training room and living quarters.
“Now that fire station, it’s a good-looking fire station,” said City Councilmember Mary Evans.
The new fire station was originally set to open in December but Nichols said that the construction company has had a series of setbacks including crews walking offsite.
The city’s budget, fueled by FEMA and GoldenLEAF grants, stood at $2,680,898 at the time of the groundbreaking. The balance comes from American Relief Program monies.