Beaufort celebrated the construction start of its newest fire station. Members of Beaufort City Council, Port Royal Town Council and other local leaders participated in the ground breaking ceremony to kick-off construction of the $3.3 million project. <a href="http://www.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/COVER-sign.jpg"><img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-22481" src="http://www.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/COVER-sign-300x199.jpg" alt="COVER - sign" width="300" height="199" /></a>

“The new fire house site is ideally situated for fire protection,” Beaufort Fire Chief Sammy Negron said. The site is positioned between Port Royal’s main station and Beaufort’s current Fire Headquarters which will put it near the intersection of Ribaut and Boundary Streets.

Beaufort Mayor Billy Keyserling said the new fire station solves several problems. One of which is the construction of the new station allows us to “move out of a building that is located between two schools, which is obviously not a very safe location for fire trucks,” Keyserling said. Fraser Construction is the general contractor for the project.

The new facility will replace the outdated one beside Beaufort Middle School and across from Mossy Oaks Elementary on residential Mossy Oaks Road. City Council hasn’t decided what to do with that property after the new facility opens. Firefighting equipment will be moved from the Mossy Oaks Road station to the new station and firefighters expect to move in by year’s end.

“The good news is that we’ll be moving into a fire station that is in a much better location and that further secures our fire rating which helps reduce fire insurance premiums,” Keyserling said. Negron followed with, “We will be perfectly located to serve the emergency calls from this area and into Port Royal.”

Since the City bought the original property at 1120 Ribaut Road in September 2013, it also acquired a smaller parcel adjacent the Love House Ministries’ bowling alley. The additional land enables fire vehicles to pull into the station from the rear of the property, and also enables the City to address overall drainage and storm water run-off issues of the area.