Historic Atlanta Fire Station 16 receives $500,000 renovation grant from US government

ATLANTA — Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams announced the first-ever federal funding was delivered to the Atlanta Fire Rescue Foundation on Monday.

According to officials, the historic Atlanta Fire Rescue Station 16 will receive $500,000 as an investment to renovate the facility and enhance public safety.

Fire Station 16 is known in Atlanta for being the first in the city to house Black firefighters. Dickens said it was also the first Atlanta firehouse to have a Black, female firefighter in the city.

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“This was the home of the city’s first 16 African American firefighters that were hired by this fire department and also the home of the first Black female firefighter, and we have honored that,” Dickens said.

Williams said in a statement online that the award comes from a Community Project Funding program grant, saying the renovations will be “used to preserve the legacy of the groundbreaking firefighters and to continue serving with excellence.”

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At the event, Dickens said Williams has remained “steadfast in her commitment to the safety and wellbeing of the people of the 5th, the fighting 5th, she has championed” getting the funding to renovate the fire station.

Williams herself said the funding for the fire station would help the Vine City and English Avenue communities.

“In 1963, Atlanta’s first team of Black firefighters were stationed right here. This is history, y’all. And we like to say that Atlanta influences everything, but this is the start of it,” she said. “We have to make sure we continue to invest in what we have here and this rich history, and that means making sure that we’re not just commemorating the past, but we’re also looking towards the future.”

She said the federal investment would ensure the history would be told over and over, but that history would continue to be made in the historic neighborhood it was in.

Taos Wynn, president and CEO of the foundation, said the funding would “enable the foundation and AFRD to support meaningful renovations and structural improvements to the historic fire station.”

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