Tega Cay's volunteer firefighters added a full second story to their fire station in 1999, doing much of the construction themselves to stretch the budget.

A newly published account from the Tega Cay Historical Society, written by Scott Miller, details how the Tega Cay Fire Department and Rescue Squad transformed the cramped 1981 station on Tega Cay Drive. The piece draws on two Fort Mill Times articles by reporter Susan J. Stabley from April and September 1999.

Forty people, one room

By the late 1990s, weekly training meetings were drawing as many as 40 people into a room designed to hold 18. Overflow spilled into the parking lot.

"Forty people training in a room built for 18 is tough," Fire Chief Bill Kruysman told the Fort Mill Times in April 1999. "It's always a packed room."

The department shared the building with the Tega Cay Rescue Squad. Together, the two organizations staffed more than 45 firefighter volunteers and 18 rescue squad members. Three bays housed five trucks. Every inch was spoken for.

Volunteers swing hammers

In spring 1999, Kruysman brought a proposal to city council to add 2,600 square feet of new space above the existing station: a larger meeting room, a dedicated classroom and administrative offices. The ground-floor meeting room and kitchen would become additional bay space.

The city approved the project. A contractor handled the foundation, electrical system, plumbing and drywall. All other work on the second-floor offices and bathrooms, including ceilings, flooring and painting, was performed by volunteers.

A public groundbreaking was held May 1, 1999. By Sept. 30, 1999, five months later, the project was 60 percent complete. Assistant Chief Dave Lerow estimated about one more month of work remained.

"We've been doing the work ourselves to make the budget work," Lerow told the Fort Mill Times in September 1999. "Everyone chips in to complete what we have to do, one way or another, be it bookkeeping, inspecting or construction."

During construction, training exercises moved to the parking lot of the Tega Cay Clubhouse.

Community fundraising and a memorial

The department also needed new glass bay doors. Sam McDonald led a community fundraising drive. Dave Nelson, building committee chairman, accepted donations at his home on Coventry Court. By fall 1999, the cost estimate had been revised to $8,000, and more than $5,000 had been raised from businesses and residents.

Alongside the construction, the department added a brick memorial honoring former volunteers who had passed away. It features a brass bell salvaged from an old locomotive engine. Nine red maple trees were to be planted along Windward Drive in their memory.

Still standing

The renovated station on Tega Cay Drive remains the Tega Cay Fire Department's home base, according to the Historical Society. The department has served the community continuously since 1973.

As we reported Wednesday, Fort Mill broke ground Thursday, Aug. 27, on its third fire station at 1655 Masons Bend Drive. That 10,000-square-foot facility, funded through impact fees and built by Leitner Construction of Rock Hill, is expected to open in fall 2027.