Neighbors push to save historic fire station in Jacksonville

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Fire Station No. 5 in Brooklyn could be bought by the city for $2.6 million and the property's future is uncertain.

The building stands in disrepair and some people in the neighborhood want to save it.

A Facebook page was created to try and save the building.

“I think, if these walls could talk, they would have great stories to tell,” said Cathleen Murphy who created the Facebook page.

The firehouse is now on the historic society’s endangered buildings list. The building hasn’t been used in more than a decade.

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Randy Wyse said it's wheree he began his career as a rookie fireman in 1988. He shared a haunted fire station story.

“There’s a cross where that window use to be. There’s an old story that there was a certain captain who allegedly hung himself in the attic and the cross was to pay homage to the captain,” Wyse said.

The building looks out of place, amid new booming construction.

The fire station was shuttered in 2008 and Fidelity National Financial acquired the building.

The mayor’s budget review committee recently approved $2.6 million to purchase the property.

If approved by the City Council, a decision will have to be made about whether to move the building, use the property for something else or demolish the building.

The city of Jacksonville sent Action News Jax this response:

"The city has had in place a plan to demo #5 since 2010. Previously the city swapped the property to expand Gefen Park on the river. Now there's a traffic safety plan to realign Forest st southeast of Riverside Ave. The firehouse is in the way of this so it would not remain at the site. If someone is interested in moving it and has a financial plan to do so they will have time to present that to the city."

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