Onslow County officials have broken ground on a new Bear Creek Fire Station, a $6.3 million project designed to strengthen emergency response capabilities and provide firefighters with modern operational space.
County commissioners and local leaders held a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday morning at the future station site on Old Sand Ridge Road.
The facility will be built next to Sand Ridge Elementary School and will include living quarters, a five-vehicle apparatus bay, decontamination rooms and backup power to support continued operations during extended outages.
Planned interior features include dorm-style bunks with private lockers, a kitchen and a training room, giving firefighters a more functional space for daily operations, training and emergency readiness.
Volunteer firefighter Matt Hayslip said the replacement station is necessary to meet the department’s current needs.
“It’s needed. Our old station is old. It’s just old, and it doesn’t provide all the things we need to be able to do the job that we need to do to keep the citizens safe,” Hayslip said.
Officials said the new building is being designed to withstand winds of up to 150 mph, improving resilience during severe weather events and helping crews remain available when the community needs them most.
The Bear Creek Fire Station project represents a significant investment in public safety infrastructure for Onslow County and the surrounding community.
