Spartanburg Fire Dept. begins work on new headquarters

SPARTANBURG, SC (WSPA) – The City of Spartanburg Fire Department is renovating its future home.

The building, which is located at 450 Wofford Street, will roughly quadruple the department’s space, according to Chief Marion Blackwell.

The new facilities are slated to be operational in the autumn of 2023.

The City of Spartanburg bought the property in July 2019 for $4.3 million.

City Council then approved a $6.1 million bid by Sossamon Construction company to renovate the property.

Despite the roughly $10.4 million cost of the new headquarters, Blackwell said that the move saved millions of taxpayer dollars.

“We were able to get more square footage for the dollar by updating this than if we tried to build a new facility,” he said.

The new facility will house new living quarters for firefighters, a massive maintenance area, three new bays for trucks, administrative offices, the city’s IT department and even a firefighting museum.

“It gives us a little more elbow room. It gives us better facilities for our folks that stay here on a 24-hour basis,” Blackwell said.