St. John’s Fire allowed $24.5 million for facility improvements

ST JOHNS ISLAND, S.C. (WCBD)– St John’s Fire District received authorization to use millions of dollars to build new facilities, replace old equipment, and purchase new gear, something officials say has been a long time coming.

“Over the last several years, we’ve been evaluating our facilities and also our service delivery, and we determine the week we need to replace two of our fire stations so that we can continue to bring that service delivery to the residence,” Ryan Kunitzer, Chief of St. Johns Fire District.

The seven fire stations that make up the district are scattered over Johns, Kiawah, Seabrook, and Wadmalaw Islands.

Charleston County Council granted the request of $24.5 million in early May. Leaders say that with the growing population, it’s essential to ensure first responders can meet the growing community’s needs quickly. 

“Charleston County is the most concerned with safety, which will improve response times and make our citizens safer in an emergency. The ability to get to and respond as quickly as possible has the best result, which has been a huge priority for the county council,” said Jenny Costa Honeycutt, Charleston County Council Vice Chair.

Emergency officials say heavy traffic along Maybank Highway can increase their response time, which they are working on addressing.

“The district is growing, and so is a lot of the south of our district. There are many new neighborhoods, homes, and even the son of thunder busy Maybank Highway and Main Rd., River Road. I’ll be in busy areas, so we have strategically placed locations. We wanted to prove service delivery time by adding these fire stations,” said Kunitzer.

Officials told News 2, they expect to receive the first round of funding to start building the two stations in the early fall of 2024.