Key West to name future fire station after former chief Eddie Castro

Key West will put Edwin “Eddie” Castro’s name on the future Fire Station No. 3, tying a longtime fire-service legacy to a station planned for Kennedy Drive and the city’s next generation of emergency response. The City Commission approved the naming 6-1 at its June 4 meeting in Commission Chambers at City Hall, with Commissioner Greg Veliz casting the lone dissent.

The tribute points directly to the public-safety changes that defined Castro’s 32 years with the Key West Fire Department. Castro joined the department in 1963 and retired in 1995 after 10 years as chief, from 1986 to 1995. During that span, retired firefighter and department historian Alex Vega said Castro helped strengthen training, improve water supply and pressure, expand emergency medical services and centralize dispatch so residents could reach police and fire through the same system.

Vega also said Castro was part of the department’s response to some of Key West’s defining blazes, including the 1967 Overseas Hotel fire, the Cuban Club fire on Duval Street and the El Siboney rooming-house fire on Truman Avenue. Those years also saw the department obtain its first fire boat and work toward a No. 1 Insurance Services Office rating, changes that helped move Key West fire protection from a smaller island operation toward a more modern emergency service.

Castro’s daughter, Melinda Castro Rodriguez, spoke before the vote on behalf of the family and said her father rose from firefighter to chief and spent his career mentoring generations of department personnel. Castro died on July 1, 2022, at age 81.

Veliz questioned whether the naming should have come forward during an election season and said city facilities had traditionally drawn more public discussion before being named. Commissioner Sam Kaufman said the department had followed the proper process and argued the commission should judge the matter on its merits. The split underscored how even a ceremonial vote can become a test of process and public trust in City Hall.

The name will sit on a station that is meant to do more than house apparatus. City records show New Fire Station No. 3 is part of a broader public-safety modernization effort and is planned to include an emergency operations center, community training room, fire training tower and a Category 5-rated facility. The city lists Fire Station No. 3 at 1499 Kennedy Drive, at the corner of Kennedy and Flagler, while the fire department currently operates three strategically located stations plus an additional station on Sunset Key.

That makes the naming more than a memorial. It places Castro’s legacy at a working site meant to help answer calls from nearby neighborhoods and strengthen the city’s emergency network for years to come. The department is now led by Chief Alan Averette, but the standards Castro helped build still shape the service Key West expects when the alarm sounds.