Greenville Fire Department is scheduled to hold the grand opening for its new Station 4 Tuesday morning, unveiling a modern two-bay facility that replaces a 75-year-old firehouse near downtown. The old station, built in 1950 at the corner of Stone and Park avenues, had suffered damage during Hurricane Helene and was hobbled by aging infrastructure, according to Fire Chief Brian Horton.
The new 12,690-square-foot building sits at 423 East Park Avenue, on the former site of the city's Parks Maintenance facility and directly behind the outgoing Stone Avenue firehouse; FOX Carolina reported the station's unveiling. The Station 4 facility can house up to 30 firefighters and includes a two-bay drive-through apparatus bay along with specialized rooms for equipment decontamination and medical supplies. The new station also includes dedicated areas supporting firefighter wellness and safety, along with a workout facility.
Decades of Limitations at the Old Firehouse
Beyond the storm damage, the old Stone Avenue station carried structural baggage that went back decades. In addition to sitting in a flood zone, the 1950 firehouse had low bay doors that required specialized equipment, according to the Greenville Journal. Fire engines had to be modified to fit. Those constraints had shaped equipment purchasing decisions for the department for years.
The financial road to replacing the station wasn't simple either. In April 2025, the Greenville City Council unanimously approved issuing up to $10 million in general obligation bonds to fund construction, after project cost estimates rose from an initial range of $7 million to $8 million, according to the Post and Courier. Officials broke ground on the project two months later, in June 2025.
A New Home Chosen for Faster Response Times
Station 4's location wasn't arbitrary. The site was selected based on the National Fire Protection Association's four-minute response time guideline, positioning crews to serve downtown Greenville, North Main neighborhoods, and corridors extending up to North Pleasantburg Drive, according to Fire Apparatus Magazine. That coverage zone matters: the department recorded 14,700 total dispatches and 25,000 individual vehicle responses in 2023, with the heaviest concentration of incidents in the downtown core between the Reedy River and East North Street, per the Post and Courier.
By September 11, firefighters had moved into the new East Park Avenue facility, ahead of the grand opening planned for later that month, according to a report from Citizen Portal.
Part of a Broader Citywide Rebuild
Station 4 is not an isolated project. Its construction represents the latest step in a multi-year effort by the City of Greenville to replace aging emergency infrastructure, following recently built stations on North Main Street, Augusta Road, and Verdae Boulevard, the Greenville Journal reports.
As for the old Stone Avenue firehouse, Greenville Mayor Knox White has indicated that city leaders intend to pursue commercial adaptive reuse for the decommissioned building, such as converting it into a retail establishment or restaurant, per the Post and Courier's earlier reporting. Exactly when that redevelopment might begin remains an open question.
