Work continues on pace for Fire Station No. 8, with completion set for late 2023

(Updated 11/07/22 at 2:30 p.m.) Ongoing foundation work at the new Fire Station No. 8 is slated to wrap up in two months.

Construction on the long-anticipated new station at 4845 Langston Blvd began this summer, after the old station was demolished in June.

Now, workers are pouring the concrete footings and laying masonry foundation walls for the 20,522 square-foot building, says Dept. of Environmental Services spokeswoman Katie O’Brien. They are also laying the conduits for the underground electrical, plumbing and other systems.

So far, the recent rain “has not adversely affected the schedule,” O’Brien said.

Next, construction crews will begin making the building’s steel floors and roof next month, and framing the walls sometime around next March.

Mechanical, electrical and plumbing work will begin sometime after January 2023 and continue through the summer, while building finishes will be installed next summer and fall.

O’Brien says the county expects to complete the project near the end of 2023.

Work hours are 7 a.m to 5 p.m. from Monday to Friday. There will be some Saturday work scheduled between 10 a.m and 3 p.m.

Since December 2021, firefighters have been working from a temporary station next door, at 2217 N. Culpeper Street. The permanent station is located where the old station formerly stood.

In addition to updated amenities, the new fire station will boast sustainable features such as a “green” (vegetated) roof and rooftop solar panels.

The building’s design includes a “legacy plaza” and a historic pathway, and other features, to recognize the history of the station.

During Segregation, Fire Station No. 8 was the only station in Arlington staffed by African-Americans — members of the Hall’s Hill Volunteer Fire Department. The volunteers served the historically Black neighborhood, which was walled off from an adjacent white neighborhood until the 1960s.