Fire Station No. 8 on Stockton Street in Riverside was dedicated Thursday as a union hall for firefighters. The building will be the new home for the Jacksonville Association of Fire Fighters Union, Local 122.
A unanimous vote by City Council deeded the property to the organization.
The union plans to move into the renovated facility within the next year. The closed fire station, fire tower and surrounding property will be included the renovations.
“We’d like to put a large American flag on top,” said Randy White, president of the Jacksonville Association of Fire Fighters. “There’s so much tradition here it’s unbelievable. That property was built in the 1930s. Most of the firefighters, unless they came on less than five years ago, trained there.”
Closed for about 15 years, the station was taken out of service and used for storage when newer stations were built in the vicinity.
Timed to coincide with Thursday’s memorial ceremony in New York City, the flag atop the tower honoring firefighters killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks was lowered as workers removed the the final wreckage of the World Trade Center.