By Nathan Hardin
nhardin@salisburypost.com
WOODLEAF — The Woodleaf Volunteer Fire Department is looking to the future, and is opening the station’s bay doors today for the public’s first glimpse inside.
The new $1.3 million Woodleaf fire station at 3500 N.C. 801 will host an open house from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
It’s the first time for the public to see inside the building since the facility’s construction.
The 11,000-square-foot brick structure is about a half-mile from the former structure, but it is about four times larger.
“We would like to extend an invitation to anybody that would like to come,” Fire Chief Artie Watson said Saturday.
All 32 members of the Woodleaf Fire Department are volunteer, Watson said. They respond to about 250 calls a year.
The fire chief of 15 years said the department saved for years to add on to the older station, but after negotiating with the nearby quarry, the department sold its land and purchased the property where the new station was built.
Watson said the department decided to build the new facility because it doesn’t want to outgrow another station.
“We’re looking at the future,” he said. “We don’t want to do that again. In roughly 20 years, we’ve outgrown the old facility.”
Watson said he and other staff members came up with the station’s design. A study of Salisbury Fire’s Station 4 and other stations in various counties helped them with the new plans.
Watson said visitors to the station can take tours of the facility and refreshments will be provided.