PIEDMONT — The Piedmont Fire Department is seeking a location for a new fire headquarters, saying its current facility is too small to meet the future needs of its rapidly growing service area.
Fire Chief Tracy Wallace said the department’s current facility is hemmed in on three sides by publicly owned roads and on the fourth by private property, making renovation and expansion an unrealistic option.
Built in 1972, Wallace said the current headquarters was built to accommodate a small volunteer staff, not the seven-firefighters-per-shift department he now oversees. Fire engines and other equipment are packed into storage bays. Wallace said he will need to buy a new truck in the coming years, but at the moment, he has nowhere to put it.
“Currently, on apparatus, I’m good, because I’ve got them stacked in here so I can’t hardly move,” he said. “But I would say in the next five years, we’ll be purchasing a new engine.”
Wallace said the explosive growth throughout both Greenville and Anderson counties is quickly spreading to Piedmont. In the past two years, he said, developers have built 1,000 new homes in the area, with no sign of slowing down.
To keep up with demand, Wallace said the fire department needs to expand.
“We’ve completely outgrown our station,” he said.
The rate of growth has increased demand for the service, but also made it more difficult for the department to find land suitable for the new facility as more properties get bought up.
In its effort to establish a new headquarters, the public service district is turning to Greenville County, asking that it transfer a property about a mile from its current facility into the department’s ownership. The 15-acre site would make for a well-situated new headquarters, Wallace said, with access to Highway 20 and Highway 86, as well as the Saluda River, where the PPSD is responsible for water rescues.
About 7 acres of the tract could not be developed because of flood plain restrictions and a power line easement, Wallace said, but the other 8 acres would be ideal for the new facility.
The property in question — which sits on Highway 20 across from the Grove Station Free Mason Lodge — was once owned by the Greenville County Recreation District before it was absorbed by Greenville County. It is currently empty with no plans for future use.
During an Oct. 13 meeting, Greenville County’s finance committee voted unanimously to recommend approval of the transfer. It will now go to the full County Council.
County Councilmember Rick Bradley, who represents Piedmont and grew up there, said the public service district is a vital resource for the former textile village. Unlike other mill communities throughout Greenville County, Piedmont never incorporated as a town, making the district its only local government entity.
As such, the PPSD serves numerous functions, including keeping Piedmont’s street lights running, operating the local community center and maintaining recreational amenities.
Bradley said he fully supports the county stepping in to help the district’s fire department keep up with demand.
“We can’t do anything else with it and think it would best serve Greenville County citizens as a fire department,” he said. “Because we are completely out of room.”
If the fire department ultimately does move its headquarters, Wallace said it will likely rent out its current facility on Piedmont’s Main Street as a commercial property. Depending on the tenant, the building could play a part in the long-sought revitalization of the mill village’s downtown corridor.
Because the department would retain ownership, it would also leave open the possibility of converting it back into a fire station at some point if needed.
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