NEW HANOVER COUNTY — After years of Station 13 firefighters combating concerns of PFAS contamination in a 40-year-old fire station, a new location for its station members had its grand opening Wednesday.
Though the new facility at 4860 Castle Hayne Road has been in use since Jan. 5, commissioners, firefighters, the fire chief and more hosted a ceremonial hose untying — the standard with any fire station opening — on Feb. 18 to christen the facility.
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“This station replaces one that went into service in 1983,” New Hanover County Board of Commissioners Chair LeAnn Pierce said at the ceremony. “It served the community well for decades. But the work has changed; expectations have changed, and our facilities must change, especially when it comes to firefighter health and safety.”
Also in attendance were commissioners Dane Scalise and Rob Zapple, county manager Chris Coudriet, representatives from Stewart-Cooper-Newell Architects and constructors Samet Corporation, who helped construct the building, and Fire Chief Donnie Hall.
Hall told the firefighters the new facility was for them — to prepare, train, recover and support each other through their job, but also build friendships, shape careers and serve their community. He added the responsibilities of fire rescue teams have grown since the former Castle Hayne station opened.
“Today’s firefighters respond not only to fires, but to medical emergencies, vehicle accidents, hazardous conditions, rescues, and even severe weather events,” Hall said. “The environment they work from matters. Not just for efficiency but for their long term health and safety. This station was designed with those realities in mind.”
The new fire station is 11,500 square feet on 2.2 acres — the previous facility almost a mile away at 5311 Castle Hayne Road was on 1.2 acres. It also has updated apparatus bays — which typically holds fire engines and other storage and is now larger — and dedicated decontamination areas, or rooms for firefighters to clean up, including their gear. The station will also have six private sleeping quarters and reinforced construction intended to withstand severe weather.
The construction of the new facility took more than a year to complete and cost $10 million, paid for through the county’s capital improvement funds. The property was originally purchased in 2022, though teams only began working on the new site in August 2024. The facility was always planned to replace the first Station 13 — due to the building’s age and original purpose intended for volunteers not career firefighters — but was fast tracked due PFAS contamination findings in 2023.
In May 2023, the state and county found PFOS, one of the PFAS chemicals, at 74 parts per trillion in the station’s water. The Environmental Protection Agency’s recommended maximum contamination level is 4 parts per trillion for PFOS.
The contamination traced back to a local Superfund hazardous waste site, according to the International Association of Fire Fighters. The land once housed the APAC-Castle Hayne Asphalt Plant and former Reasor Chemical Company.
The local chapter of the IAFF pushed for personnel to be removed from the facility while construction of the new fire station was ongoing but were not granted the request. Personnel were given water bottles to replace any drinking water.
In July 2024, an informal study, conducted by and consisting of 23 firefighters who worked at Station 13, revealed cancer other serious health problems like gallbladder issues were facing some staff. Those who conducted the survey and the IAFF said the reason for the health issues traced back to the nearby hazardous waste sites, mold in the facility, and PFAS exposure. The county did not report any official links between the health issues and the station.
The health concerns and occupational safety hazards at the former station resulted in an investigation from the Center for Disease Control in 2025. The state labor department found 31 hazards in the facility, in addition to the contamination concerns.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, part of the CDC, and the NC Department of Labor were invited to review the facility. All of the DOL’s concerns were address and NIOSH has not provided any findings or recommendations.
PCD asked the county what measures it has taken to ensure the safety of the new station.
“The county installed a Granular Activated Carbon filtration system for water treatment throughout the facility,” Chief Facilities Officer Sara Warmuth wrote in response. “The kitchen, drinking fountains, and ice machine also have a reverse osmosis system as an additional measure. The water filtration system undergoes periodic testing to ensure water quality. The facility has modern ventilation and climate control throughout, and Facilities Management will continue to conduct periodic air monitoring consistent with practices at other county buildings.”
New Hanover County still holds a lease to the old Station 13 property and will until the end of 2025-2026 fiscal year, though the new owners of the facility are 6144 Carolina Beach Road LLC. The property was sold for $1.41 million.
County facilities management will continue to secure and maintain the complex until the lease expires or the landlord sells the property to another user.
This new Station 13 is the first fire station to open in the unincorporated county in years and is one of the county’s eight in total. According Chief Hall, another is likely opening sometime in early April on Gordon Road, to also house the NHC Fire Rescue administrative team. The cost for the Gordon Road station amounts to $12.5 million, Warmuth told Port City Daily.
The expansion of fire services in New Hanover County, Hall explained, is to match the growing population. Pierce told Port City Daily the new Castle Hayne facility was the county playing catch-up in its infrastructure, to match the rapidly growing number of developments and residents.
Castle Hayne has been the subject of several rezonings and development requests over the last three years. Most recently, a 292-home development has been proposed and there has been growing commercial development along Castle Hayne Road, including a Tractor Supply and other approved commercial rezonings. Sledge Forest also is in the wings among Moore’s Crossing, a mixed use development that sparked ire in the River Bluffs community a mile away.
“This community has just taken off, and it’s gonna continue to grow,” Hall said. “You’ve got the project with North Carolina DOT where they’re widening Gordon Road to four lanes, and there’s a lot of residential and commercial development in that corridor. That area was a target for us to improve our response times.”
Port City Daily inquired into how the response times have grown in the area but rather than divulge numbers, a county spokesperson said the county fire rescue services department routinely evaluates “growth patterns, call density, and travel times.”
[Ed. note: The article has been amended to clarify that all NC Department of Labor recommendations were addressed, and the CDC and NIOSH did not provide any additional recommendations. PCD regrets the error.]
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