photo by: Eric Ayres

Wheeling Fire Chief Jim Blazier gets ready to close up shop at the new Wheeling Fire Department Headquarters in East Wheeling on Friday. The fire department is expected to begin operating out of the new facility this coming week.

WHEELING — After many months of delays and years of eager anticipation, the new Wheeling Fire Department Headquarters is officially scheduled to open this coming week.

A ribbon cutting ceremony is slated to take place at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at the new headquarters at 1700 Wood St.

Last month, Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron had noted that final details were being completed on the construction of the new $9 million facility. City leaders had hoped to invite the public for tours of the new headquarters this weekend, but some last-minute work prompted officials to push the community event back until the end of this month.

“The open house was tentatively scheduled for (Sept. 13) with the fire department operating out of the building beginning Sept. 15,” Herron noted Friday. “The project punch list, which included some painting, took slightly longer than expected to have everything ready for a public open house.

“So the fire department is still going to begin to operate there next week, and we’ll have the ceremonial ribbon cutting Sept. 17.”

Wheeling Fire Chief Jim Blazier said staff members have been in the process of relocating to the new facility over the past several days.

“The offices are moved in for the most part,” Blazier said. “We are getting stuff organized to get the crews in here maybe the first of next week – or mid-week around the time of the ribbon cutting.”

Herron said the community will be invited to a reception at the new Wheeling Fire Department Headquarters on the last weekend of this month.

“The public open house will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 27,” the city manager said. “It is a spectacular facility for our fire department that will serve the public very well for many years to come. The department is proud of it and looking forward to the ribbon cutting and to showing it to the public.”

photo by: Eric Ayres

Wheeling will hold a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new $9 million Wheeling Fire Department Headquarters at 1700 Wood St. at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Blazier noted that some equipment and fire trucks that were temporarily relocated to various satellite stations throughout the city will be headed to the new headquarters in the coming days.

“The apparatuses that are currently in North Wheeling and on the Island will be coming here – a ladder truck and Engine 2, and our duty chief,” he said. “They’ve been slowly moving their personal effects into their lockers and things like that here.”

Completion of the new fire headquarters has been anticipated for years now. Ground was broken at the site in the summer of 2022, and initially, fire officials hoped to relocate to the new facility in early 2024. Work moved along at a steady clip for months until problems began to surface surrounding payments to subcontractors.

In March of 2024, the general contractor for the project – &build, a PCS Company – filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, leaving the Wheeling FDHQ project, construction of the new Moundsville Municipal Building and several other public projects in limbo.

Eventually, a surety company named Great Lakes Contracting as the new general contractor assigned to complete the fire department headquarters project.

Because of the series of delays that set back progress on the facility’s construction, the city had to vacate the former fire department headquarters before the new station was completed. The former headquarters was housed in the lower level of the Center Wheeling Parking Garage, which was already under contract to be demolished.

Blazier and other members of the command staff temporarily relocated to the Armory complex in Clator. Other fire department personnel, fire trucks and other equipment were relocated to either the Armory or other satellite stations in the city while work at the new headquarters continued.

By the end of this past week, final details were being completed on the construction work, which should finally wrap up in a matter of days.

“There are some little odds and ends that are getting finished up here that should be done the first of next week, and then we’re hoping to get crews responding out of here,” Blazier said on Friday.

The city used money from Wheeling’s City Service Fee to fund the construction of the new fire department headquarters. The new building is a 24,860-square-foot, single-story structure with several modern amenities. It is equipped with large bays that have space for additional fire trucks. There are areas designed for hands-on training, including a hose drying and training tower, a large training room, offices for command staff and spacious bunk rooms and sleeping quarters for firefighters.

“It’s been a long time coming, but it’s been worth the wait,” Blazier said. “It’s a beautiful facility, and it’s going to serve the citizens of Wheeling for years to come.”