Charlotte will break ground Oct. 8 at 1 p.m. for Firehouse 44, a two-story, 14,000-square-foot station at 7900 Dixie River Road near Charlotte Douglas Airport. The city says it will be the first mass-timber firehouse in the Southeast, using engineered wood instead of steel or concrete to cut embodied carbon and store CO2 in the structure. The station will have three bays, equipment storage, and living quarters for crews, serving the fast-growing River District. City officials, Fire Chief Reginald Johnson, and Chief Sustainability and Resilience Officer Heather Bolick are scheduled to attend the groundbreaking. The event was moved from Sept. 23 due to rain.
