On Saturday July 8th, the City of Tega Cay will open their first city-owned fire station! In 1973, Dave Nelson (still a volunteer after 43 years) was sitting in his kitchen after having fought a fire at his neighbor’s house with a garden hose while waiting upwards of 20 minutes for help to arrive. While our City would not be born for another 9 years, the protection of his family and the people in this community was top priority for Dave and 14 others. The fire department has transitioned over the years. From incoming calls to a single volunteer with additional help being notified via phone tree to current day 9-1-1 dispatch, from a solely volunteer department to a combination of volunteer and paid firefighters. However, the mission of protecting this community has always remained the same.
Fast-forward to 2015: the City was awarded an ISO Class rating of 2. Of the approximately 48,800 fire departments in the entire United States, only around 950 have achieved a Class 2 rating. This commitment to excellence continued as Council recognized the need to keep the response time for emergency calls to a minimum for all areas of our City. Subsequently, Council approved the building of a new fire station early in 2016. Groundbreaking took place in October and On July 8th, we officially open the new facility! Firefighters will begin operating out of both stations. We are excited to open this new building and hope you can stop by to help us celebrate.