Canton Fire Department moving to new temporary home
The new temporary home for the Canton Fire Department, shown here in purple, is flanked by the temporary town hall and police department (lower left) and the town’s garage (lower right). Haywood GIS photo
The Town of Canton’s temporary operations hub on Summer Street, home to town hall and the police department since shortly after deadly flooding in 2021, is about to get a little bigger.
On Nov. 14, Canton’s governing board approved a lease between the town and the owners of two parcels just east of the current complex where a pair of trailers have assumed the municipal operations that used to be housed in the Stamey Municipal Building on Park Street.
The 2021 flooding that gutted the Stamey Building also hit Canton’s fire department, located directly behind the Stamey Building, but Canton’s fire department continued to use the building as its headquarters until flooding associated with Hurricane Helene again flooded the department on Sept. 27.
Chief Kevin Wheeler told The Smoky Mountain News on Sept. 29 that his department had prepared for the flood by moving trucks and equipment to higher ground and stashing office materials and equipment above the watermark of the devastating 2004 flood. The trucks were saved, but water from Helene rose above 2004 levels and cast almost everything else out of the building into the swollen Pigeon River.
Canton has been searching for a parcel of land upon which to build a new fire department headquarters since 2021 and has a solid guarantee of $5.8 million in funding from Sen. Thom Tillis that’s expected to become official soon, but has had trouble locating the perfect parcel.
The search for a new site is complicated; town contractors say it’ll need at least 2.8 acres, including a residential component for firefighters who are on duty, but location is everything. In February, Wheeler told The Smoky Mountain News that the wrong location could affect response times, thereby putting lives at risk and increasing fire insurance rates for homes and businesses.
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Currently, department functions are handled in temporary buildings on Maple Street, near the future town hall on Academy Street. Firefighters are sleeping in temporary bunkhouses there, and trucks are still being housed at the old fire department, which now has temporary power and heat. Trucks must be kept warm because water remaining in pumps could damage sensitive equipment if it freezes, according to Wheeler.
But the current setup means in the event of a call, firefighters must drive a block or two to the engines.
Kenneth and Kimberly Thomason, who own a small home behind the temporary town hall, agreed to lease the two parcels to the town for $500 per month for three years, at which time the lease will renew automatically unless it’s terminated by either party 180 days in advance. The parcels total 1.7 acres.
On the parcels, a modular structure similar to temporary town hall will house firefighters and a structure designed by the Army Corps of Engineers will provide a new home for the engines.
“It will have a garage-type setup where these trucks can stay warm,” said Town Manager Lisa Stinnett.
The new temporary fire department, for which the Army Corps of Engineers will bill FEMA, will remain in place until a permanent site can be located, Stinnett said. The town will assume some minor in-house costs for site prep, labor and grading.
