Merriweather Fire Station 14 Now Open

The new fire station in the Merriweather District of Downtown Columbia is now open for business. Station 14, on Symphony Woods Road near Merriweather Post Pavilion, has three 6-member teams working out of its new 6,800 square foot building.

Elected officials and Howard County Fire and Rescue Services personnel held a brief grand opening ceremony Monday morning in celebration of the new facility. Remarks were made by County Executive Calvin Ball, Chief Christine Uhlhorn, and Greg Fitchitt, Regional President for The Howard Hughes Corporation, which is redeveloping Downtown Columbia. The fire station is and important piece of infrastructure called for in the Downtown Columbia Plan which has now been delivered.

The full-service station includes Howard County’s first “clean cab” fire apparatus, according to Uhlhorn. Firefighters’ professional duties put them at greater risk of cancer, she noted, and the clean cab is part of the county’s carcinogenic reduction efforts. Other stations will also get clean cabs in the future, she said.

Station 14, Fitchitt noted, was built and will be operated without any net cost of the Howard County taxpayer. By using TIF bonds, the project is being paid for entirely from incremental property taxes from the development, leaving the existing tax base intact.