Tuscaloosa Welcomes A New Fire Station On Hargrove Road

The ceremonial scissors are ready for the new Tuscaloosa Fire Station #6 ribbon cutting set for this coming Thursday at 9:00 am.

Mayor Maddox, council members Joe Faile and Raevan Howard, each of whom represents a portion of the district covered by the fire station, will be joined by Fire Chief Mark Delk for remarks.

The new facility is located at 1812 Hargrove Road E, the site of the former Hargrove Memorial United Methodist Church for 74 years. It will replace the old #6 station, which was located in front of the Veterans Administration Medical Center on Loop Road. The old #6 station had fallen into a need for extensive repairs and upgrades, which were limited by the property's constricted location.

The ground was broken at the 2.5-acre new site in March of 2024 to replace the previous station, which had already been closed in 2021. Firefighters assigned to station #6 have been operating out of fire station #4 located on University Blvd. in Alberta since the closure of their station.

Then Tuscaloosa Fire/Rescue Chief Randy Smith pointed out the new #6 station will give the department more room for growth and that the church's gymnasium would be retained for fire fighter exercise and development. (It is now located behind the new fire station structure)

The property was appraised at $1.5 million and was owned by the United Methodist Church's national organization. Its sale was finalized in June 2022. The price tag for the property, design work, and construction runs approximately $6 million according to the city.

City officials believe the new site will better serve the East Tuscaloosa area and will have enough space for adding other services to the property.