A New Chapter for South End Fire Station

Published on January 28, 2025

In August 2022, the City took a pivotal step in safeguarding the future of emergency services by purchasing South End Fire Station. Located at Braddock and Monmouth Streets, the current building had served the community since 1958, but the wear and tear of decades of service began to outpace the ability of its volunteer owners to maintain it. The building was simply no longer suited to the growing demands of modern fire and rescue operations.

The City’s decision to invest in a new station, with an estimated cost of approximately $20 million, marks the beginning of a significant transformation for South End. But the goal wasn’t just to replace an old structure; it was to build a facility that would both honor the rich history of South End and provide for the future needs of the City’s emergency responders.

A Legacy Preserved

For Deputy Chief of Operations Brandon Krippner, this project hits close to home. Krippner joined South End Fire Company as a volunteer in 1999, eventually being awarded with a Lifetime Membership. “South End has a near and dear place in all of our hearts,” Krippner said. He said that the City is committed to ensuring that while the new station will look toward the future.

One way the City plans to honor that history is by repurposing elements of the original building. The original fire poles will be retained and incorporated into the new building. Even the bricks from the oldest part of the station will be salvaged and integrated into the new structure.

Building for the Future

The new South End Fire Station will be a state-of-the-art facility, designed to meet the needs of both career and volunteer firefighters while supporting the demands of modern emergency services. The new building will span 26,000 square feet across two stories and will seek LEED Silver certification, a globally recognized symbol of sustainability for buildings. Even though the building will meet the needs of modern emergency services, it is still located in the City’s historic district and care has been taken to ensure that the building will resemble the surrounding architecture.

The design includes a spacious layout with four apparatus bays facing South Braddock Street, a two-story hose tower will provide both additional storage and a valuable training resource, and the new station was also designed with the well-being of the firefighters in mind, offering improved storage for gear and more space for training activities.

The modernization of the station also includes technological upgrades, such as a station alerting system that would ensure only the units needed for a particular emergency would be alerted and woken up if the call came in the middle of the night. This will greatly improve the sleep circadian for firefighters, eliminating the disruption of waking up all station staff for every incident.

Despite the scale of the project, the fire and rescue services that the South End Fire Department has provided for decades will never stop. Construction will proceed in phases to ensure no uninterrupted 911 service within our community, with a portion of the eastern end of the existing building remaining operational throughout the process. This will allow firefighters to continue their lifesaving work while the new station slowly takes shape around them.

The Community’s Support

For many in the community, the transformation of the South End Fire Station represents more than just a physical building—it is a testament to the enduring spirit of service and community. While the station is the first to be owned by the City government, the volunteers will still be able to serve the community, just as they always have, by helping to staff responding apparatus. In this sense the project symbolizes a perfect blend of tradition and progress, ensuring that South End will continue to serve our community for generations to come.