Changes on Horizon at all Fire Stations in Charleston, WV

When the rebuilds, renovations or repairs are completed, all Charleston firefighters will have their own bedrooms.

Nov. 20, 2025

5 min read

Ashley Perham
The Charleston Gazette-Mail, W.Va.
(TNS)

Charleston firefighters will soon be getting more privacy and a better night’s sleep while on duty. A plan is underway to renovate, repair or rebuild all eight fire stations.

Most of the stations, such as Station 2, have dormitory-style bedrooms, although firefighters have added partitions.

After the project is complete, all firefighters will have their own separate bedroom, each with an alarm system so personnel staying overnight only hear calls for the truck or ambulance they are assigned to.

Charleston Fire Department firefighters work 24-hour shifts.

“They need to be fresh, so [we’re giving them] their own bedrooms with a door that shuts to make sure that they’re getting a good night’s sleep,” said Charleston Mayor Amy Shuler Goodwin.

Importance of upgrades

Individual barracks are being constructed during the renovations to the living quarters at the Charleston Fire Station 2 in Charleston, Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025.

Ward 3 City Councilman and former CFD chief Chuck Overstreet said he is “ecstatic” about the renovations.

“I know what it feels like to not get any privacy, no rest,” he said.

Stations 3 and 8, built in 2003 and 2017, respectively, already have private rooms.

On Wednesday, speaking in Station 2 on Charleston's West Side, CFD Chief Craig Matthews said the building was about to turn 50 years old, and “that’s about the life cycle of any building. By just investing this money into it now, we’re going to maintain these buildings for their 100th-year anniversary,” he said.

Matthews said the fire stations also are being brought up to code.

“These stations were originally built dormitory style,” he said. “Fire safety in a firehouse is one thing that just wasn’t looked at.”

Privacy for women

The new private bedrooms and bathrooms are expected to help recruitment of all firefighters, but specifically female firefighters, Matthews said.

Currently, CFD has 169 firefighters, but only two are women. Another is in the hiring pipeline.

At most of the stations, women have to put a sign on the communal bathrooms or locker rooms when they’re using them. Part of the upgrades include separated bathrooms, rather than the locker room-style setup most stations have.

Renovation plan

Charleston Fire Department Station 1

Charleston Fire Station 1, at 300 Morris St. (foreground) on Charleston's East End is shown in this aerial view on May 21, 2024.

In September, the Charleston City Council approved $4.2 million for renovations to five of the fire stations. The council had previously approved funds to assess the stations and design the renovations.

Charleston City Council approves millions for repairs to parking garages, fire stations

Repairs to Charleston’s six city-owned parking garages will begin soon, with the City Council approving the first $2.5 million of a five-year project.

Station 2, at 808 Virginia St. W., and Station 4, at 1810 Oakridge Road, off Greenbrier Street, are undergoing renovations. Those should be complete in April, when Station 1, at 300 Morris St., on the East End, and Station 5, at 918 Bridge Road in South Hills, will start six months of renovations.

These stations are shut down during the renovations, with equipment moved to nearby stations or facilities to cover the same area.

Renovations to Station 8, at 208 Copenhaver Drive in North Charleston, are minor and include a new roof and minor repairs.

Station 3, at 822 Oakwood Road off Corridor G, will receive cosmetic fixes that aren’t included in the $4.2 million in funding.

Charleston FD Station No. 7

Charleston Fire Department Station 7, 128 Cora St., in Charleston, is seen here on Oct. 22, 2024.

Station 6, at 5008 MacCorkle Ave. SE in Kanawha City, and Station 7, at 128 Cora St., near Bigley Avenue, will be rebuilt. These fire stations and Station 5 were built in 1939 as New Deal projects.

Facelift for fire stations: Charleston City Council OKs design phase of project

Charleston’s fire stations will get much-needed renovations soon because the City Council approved $249,600 for Phase 2 of a project Monday night.

“In 1939, you still had horse-drawn apparatus in some cities,” Matthews said. “Fire trucks are getting bigger and bigger. The firehouses aren’t getting bigger.”

The renovations also are adding more bedrooms to some of the smaller stations to prepare for future growth.

Matthews said major renovations haven’t been done for as far back as he can remember. The department would be given funds occasionally to fix one-off issues.

“It was always a Band-Aid onto a problem that had occurred,” he said. “We have never had any forward-thinking renovations.”

Morale boost

Matthews said the renovations will make the CFD more competitive with departments like South Charleston, which has new fire stations.

“I think the citizens take a little bit more pride,” he said. “You know how we feel about a house that’s run down. Well, if the firehouse doesn’t look good, it’s the same way.”

Matthews said he thinks the renovations will help firefighters’ morale.

" When you have a safe place to come to, a clean place to come to, it just [makes] the job more rewarding," he said. “We call them firehouses; they’re homes.”