Hundreds sign petition to preserve Apex fire station

APEX, N.C. (WNCN) — An online petition has gained nearly 800 signatures to preserve Apex Fire Station One, which has been situated in downtown Apex since the 1950s.

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“We’re just hoping to keep the small-town character, downtown Apex,” said Roy Moore.

But the future of the decades-old building that houses Station One operations is unclear, “It’s a landmark down here. It does a great cause operating a fire station out of,” said Moore.

Moore is leading the efforts to preserve it. “I don’t want to see it go. Apex is the peak of good living, and the fire department here downtown is a good foundation of the small-town character for what it’s been here in Apex.”

He spent several years working as a volunteer and paid firefighter for the town, “And it meant a lot to me being downtown here at this fire station.”

Despite these recent efforts, plans have been in the works for years to move operations out of downtown.

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“This didn’t start yesterday,” Apex Public Information Officer Victorian Simmons said.

In 2019, the town council approved a downtown master plan that included reimagining Station One. Years later, town leaders expressed support to move operations to Station Three, less than a mile down the road.

“If you have two fire stations within one mile, you’re really covering the same area, so what we’re doing is we’re choosing just to move the operations out of Station 1 into Station 3, where there is room to expand,” said Simmons.

Apex’s most recent budget, approved earlier this month, includes funding to expand Station Three. At the next council meeting on Aug. 11, the council will consider funding for a feasibility study for the Station One site.

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“I’m expecting a strong turnout, and you know, we’ll see,” said Moore.

More information about the site and its future can be found here.