{"id":7474,"date":"2023-06-19T07:16:35","date_gmt":"2023-06-19T11:16:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/?p=7474"},"modified":"2026-04-06T12:23:54","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T16:23:54","slug":"wrightsville-beach-fire-stations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wrightsville-beach-fire-stations\/","title":{"rendered":"The History of Wrightsville Beach Fire Stations"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The first fire department building in Wrightsville Beach was located in the 400 block of Waynick Boulevard, along with the police department, town hall, and coast guard station.\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Building erected in [goes here].<\/li>\n<li>Fire chief had residence upstairs.<\/li>\n<li>Town hall and police station were next door. The original building was a small, wood frame cottage with shingles that was replaced circa the late 1930s.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Coast Guard also had a headquarters on the site, under the water tower.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Over the years, it housed a 1926 pumper, a 1939 Mack, a 1964 Ford\/Seagrave, and a 1973 Ford\/Howe.<\/li>\n<li>In 1972, upon completion of Station 2, the police department expanded into one of the two former engine bays, adding offices and moving the jail from outside to inside.<\/li>\n<li>In 1984, the fire station was relocated to the municipal complex.<\/li>\n<li>1n 1986, the building was demolished. WBFD salvaged bathroom fixtures and a water cooler for the new station on Seawater Lane, a converted warehouse.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023-06-19-wbfd-7.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023-06-19-wbfd-7.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n1961 photo<br \/>\nUS Coast Guard Archives, Washington D.C. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023-06-19-wbfd-1.jpg\"> <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1200\" height=\"594\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7472\" src=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023-06-19-wbfd-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023-06-19-wbfd-1.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023-06-19-wbfd-1-300x149.jpg 300w, https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023-06-19-wbfd-1-730x361.jpg 730w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nWBFD photo<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023-06-19-wfd-6.jpg\"> <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"399\" height=\"279\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7478\" src=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023-06-19-wfd-6.jpg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023-06-19-wfd-6.jpg 399w, https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023-06-19-wfd-6-300x210.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 399px) 100vw, 399px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nWilmington Sanborn Map, 1955<\/p>\n<p><strong>Low Profile Engines<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023-06-19-wfd-5.jpg\"> <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1200\" height=\"748\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7477\" src=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023-06-19-wfd-5.jpg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023-06-19-wfd-5.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023-06-19-wfd-5-300x187.jpg 300w, https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023-06-19-wfd-5-730x455.jpg 730w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nRichard Adelman Collection photo.<\/p>\n<p>This 1964 Ford\/Seagrave, 500 GPM, was designed with no warning lights on the roof, due to the low height of the engine bay. It was followed with a 1973 Ford\/Howe, 750 GPM.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Second Station Opened<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023-06-19-wbfd-2.jpg\"> <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1200\" height=\"879\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7469\" src=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023-06-19-wbfd-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023-06-19-wbfd-2.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023-06-19-wbfd-2-300x220.jpg 300w, https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023-06-19-wbfd-2-730x535.jpg 730w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nWBFD photo.<\/p>\n<p>A second fire station was opened in 1972.\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Live Oak Drive at Causeway Boulevard.<\/li>\n<li>Needed due to construction of the current Banks Channel bridge, which left Harbor Island unprotected.<\/li>\n<li>Unmanned. A number of volunteers lived on Harbor Island and could respond from this station.<\/li>\n<li>First housed the 1939 Mack and was soon replaced by the 1964 Ford\/Seagrave, upon delivery of the 1973 Ford\/Howe.<\/li>\n<li>Also included a hose tower that was built by department members.<\/li>\n<li>Planned as a temporary facility, until the expansion of the police station was needed.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Became the center of volunteer activity in 1976, shifting from Station 1. Though still unmanned, it served as training and VFD headquarters.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Operated until 1996, with Engine 2 housed there.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Later served as Parks and Recreation activity, later as service center for parking meter operations, later as headquarters for parking meter operations.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Building still standing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Fire Department Relocates<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Two buildings housed the fire department, beginning with this warehouse in 1983.\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Location of old saline water plant.<\/li>\n<li>Two and later three engines were housed in the building, until the larger, adjacent warehouse was converted into a fire station.<\/li>\n<li>The building was unheated and uninsulated, which was a big problem in the winter of 1983-84. During the coldest months, a large jet heater was fueled twice a day, to keep the building warm.<\/li>\n<li>The conversion of the larger building was done with a limited budget and a lot of volunteer work.<\/li>\n<li>Work on the new station started in the summer of 1984.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023-06-19-wbfd-8.jpg\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023-06-19-wbfd-8.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nGoogle photo<\/p>\n<p>The fire department relocated in 1986 to the larger warehouse on Seawater Lane. The building was used until the public safety center was erected in 2010.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023-06-19-wbfd-3.jpg\"> <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1108\" height=\"582\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7470\" src=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023-06-19-wbfd-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023-06-19-wbfd-3.jpg 1108w, https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023-06-19-wbfd-3-300x158.jpg 300w, https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023-06-19-wbfd-3-730x383.jpg 730w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1108px) 100vw, 1108px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nGoogle photo<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023-06-19-wbfd-9.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7487\" src=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023-06-19-wbfd-9.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"607\" srcset=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023-06-19-wbfd-9.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023-06-19-wbfd-9-300x152.jpg 300w, https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023-06-19-wbfd-9-730x369.jpg 730w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/a>Sherman Gillespie photo<\/p>\n<p>The current fire station, part of a larger public safety center, opened on the grounds of the municipal complex in 2010.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023-06-19-wbfd-4.jpg\"> <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1200\" height=\"636\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7471\" src=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023-06-19-wbfd-4.jpg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023-06-19-wbfd-4.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023-06-19-wbfd-4-300x159.jpg 300w, https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023-06-19-wbfd-4-730x387.jpg 730w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nStewert-Cooper-Newell Architects photo<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sources<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LegerosFire\/posts\/pfbid02dw7De3pGsohu3oVQSyroUD2jNYPpAxKrteC8tyikgKZiycRcLYXd1qvA3GLFwUYTl\">Legeros Fire Line posting, March 21, 2020<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Oral histories by Everett Ward<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid0arfF3M7oCAo1Au3guNM1JL8KuNdFwevfz7NJXpk6MAPGbwV9Shku6nqWWYaXHvXxl&amp;id=100064845902120\">WBFD Facebook posting, June 9, 2022<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid0K6nkJBrckpQurQCpRAhMBaE9LaAyaPyDM5yFfpNPqgJ3aVXRKXcyokabKsqUbYwGl&amp;id=100064845902120\">WBFD Facebook posting, June 23, 2022<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.legeros.com\/blog-archives\/content\/2012-09-15-wrightsville-beach-former-stations.pdf\">Wrightsville Beach Former Fire Stations<\/a> (PDF), Legeros Blog Archives Posting, September 2012<\/li>\n<li>Wrightsville Beach Magazine, Coast Guard Station &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/wrightsvillebeachmagazine.com\/coast-guard-station\/\">On Duty at Wrightsville Beach by Pat Bradford<\/a>, October 27, 2022<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div data-animation=\"no-animation\" data-icons-animation=\"no-animation\" data-overlay=\"on\" data-change-size=\"\" data-button-size=\"0.7\" style=\"font-size:0.7em!important;display:none;\" class=\"supsystic-social-sharing supsystic-social-sharing-package-flat supsystic-social-sharing-content supsystic-social-sharing-content-align-left\" data-text=\"\"><a data-networks=\"[]\" class=\"social-sharing-button sharer-flat sharer-flat-8 counter-standard without-counter facebook\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Facebook\" href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Flegeros.com%2Fblog%2Fwrightsville-beach-fire-stations%2F\" data-main-href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u={url}\" data-nid=\"1\" data-name=\"\" data-pid=\"1\" data-post-id=\"7474\" data-url=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php\" data-description=\"The History of Wrightsville Beach Fire Stations\" rel=\"nofollow\" data-mailto=\"\"><i class=\"fa-ssbs fa-ssbs-fw fa-ssbs-facebook\"><span>Share<\/span><\/i><div class=\"counter-wrap standard\"><span class=\"counter\">0<\/span><\/div><\/a><a data-networks=\"[]\" class=\"social-sharing-button sharer-flat sharer-flat-8 counter-standard without-counter twitter\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Twitter\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Flegeros.com%2Fblog%2Fwrightsville-beach-fire-stations%2F&text=The+History+of+Wrightsville+Beach+Fire+Stations\" data-main-href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url={url}&text={title}\" data-nid=\"2\" data-name=\"\" data-pid=\"1\" data-post-id=\"7474\" data-url=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php\" data-description=\"The History of Wrightsville Beach Fire Stations\" rel=\"nofollow\" data-mailto=\"\"><i class=\"fa-ssbs fa-ssbs-fw fa-ssbs-twitter\"><span>Share<\/span><\/i><div class=\"counter-wrap standard\"><span class=\"counter\">0<\/span><\/div><\/a><a data-networks=\"[]\" class=\"social-sharing-button sharer-flat sharer-flat-8 counter-standard without-counter pinterest\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Pinterest\" href=\"http:\/\/pinterest.com\/pin\/create\/link\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flegeros.com%2Fblog%2Fwrightsville-beach-fire-stations%2F&description=The+History+of+Wrightsville+Beach+Fire+Stations\" data-main-href=\"http:\/\/pinterest.com\/pin\/create\/link\/?url={url}&description={title}\" data-nid=\"7\" data-name=\"\" data-pid=\"1\" data-post-id=\"7474\" data-url=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php\" data-description=\"The History of Wrightsville Beach Fire Stations\" rel=\"nofollow\" data-mailto=\"\"><i class=\"fa-ssbs fa-ssbs-fw fa-ssbs-pinterest\"><span>Share<\/span><\/i><div class=\"counter-wrap standard\"><span class=\"counter\">0<\/span><\/div><\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The first fire department building in Wrightsville Beach was located in the 400 block of Waynick Boulevard, along with the police department, town hall, and coast guard station.\u00a0 Building erected in [goes here]. Fire chief had residence upstairs. Town hall and police station were next door. The original building was a small, wood frame cottage &#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wrightsville-beach-fire-stations\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading &lsquo;The History of Wrightsville Beach Fire Stations&rsquo; &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n<div data-animation=\"no-animation\" data-icons-animation=\"no-animation\" data-overlay=\"on\" data-change-size=\"\" data-button-size=\"0.7\" style=\"font-size:0.7em!important;display:none;\" class=\"supsystic-social-sharing supsystic-social-sharing-package-flat supsystic-social-sharing-content supsystic-social-sharing-content-align-left\" data-text=\"\"><a data-networks=\"[]\" class=\"social-sharing-button sharer-flat sharer-flat-8 counter-standard without-counter facebook\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Facebook\" href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Flegeros.com%2Fblog%2Fwrightsville-beach-fire-stations%2F\" data-main-href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u={url}\" data-nid=\"1\" data-name=\"\" data-pid=\"1\" data-post-id=\"7474\" data-url=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php\" data-description=\"The History of Wrightsville Beach Fire Stations\" rel=\"nofollow\" data-mailto=\"\"><i class=\"fa-ssbs fa-ssbs-fw fa-ssbs-facebook\"><span>Share<\/span><\/i><div class=\"counter-wrap standard\"><span class=\"counter\">0<\/span><\/div><\/a><a data-networks=\"[]\" class=\"social-sharing-button sharer-flat sharer-flat-8 counter-standard without-counter twitter\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Twitter\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Flegeros.com%2Fblog%2Fwrightsville-beach-fire-stations%2F&text=The+History+of+Wrightsville+Beach+Fire+Stations\" data-main-href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url={url}&text={title}\" data-nid=\"2\" data-name=\"\" data-pid=\"1\" data-post-id=\"7474\" data-url=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php\" data-description=\"The History of Wrightsville Beach Fire Stations\" rel=\"nofollow\" data-mailto=\"\"><i class=\"fa-ssbs fa-ssbs-fw fa-ssbs-twitter\"><span>Share<\/span><\/i><div class=\"counter-wrap standard\"><span class=\"counter\">0<\/span><\/div><\/a><a data-networks=\"[]\" class=\"social-sharing-button sharer-flat sharer-flat-8 counter-standard without-counter pinterest\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Pinterest\" href=\"http:\/\/pinterest.com\/pin\/create\/link\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flegeros.com%2Fblog%2Fwrightsville-beach-fire-stations%2F&description=The+History+of+Wrightsville+Beach+Fire+Stations\" data-main-href=\"http:\/\/pinterest.com\/pin\/create\/link\/?url={url}&description={title}\" data-nid=\"7\" data-name=\"\" data-pid=\"1\" data-post-id=\"7474\" data-url=\"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php\" data-description=\"The History of Wrightsville Beach Fire Stations\" rel=\"nofollow\" data-mailto=\"\"><i class=\"fa-ssbs fa-ssbs-fw fa-ssbs-pinterest\"><span>Share<\/span><\/i><div class=\"counter-wrap standard\"><span class=\"counter\">0<\/span><\/div><\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7474"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7474"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7474\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9885,"href":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7474\/revisions\/9885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}