William Cameron Engine Company Seeks $1.6 Million Federal Grant for Station Upgrades

The William Cameron Engine Company has applied for a $1.6 million competitive federal grant to overhaul its 60-year-old station on Buffalo Road and consolidate operations that are currently split across two Lewisburg addresses.

The volunteer fire company, which has served Lewisburg and the surrounding area since 1874, submitted an application to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Community Facilities Program. Fire Chief William Blount III said the company worked with U.S. Rep. Glenn "GT" Thompson (R-15) to submit the application, which seeks to fund roughly half of a $3.2 million project. The station at 11 Buffalo Road and the administrative offices at 239 N. Fifth St. were both built in the mid-1960s, with sources citing 1966 as the construction year.

Assistant Chief Harold Erdley has been the primary voice on the project, describing it as shovel-ready after more than a year of planning. The two most pressing objectives are expanding the apparatus bay to better accommodate large fire trucks and moving administrative offices from the North Fifth Street support building into the firehouse itself.

"As it is now, someone stops at the firehouse, they really need to see the chief or the administrative assistant, so then we escort them up across the street, up the stairs," Erdley said. "The goal here is lets get it all in one place so the citizens know where to go to get whatever assistance they need."

If awarded, the $1.6 million grant would cover approximately half the total cost. The engine company plans to launch a capital campaign to raise the remaining funds. Erdley framed the grant application as the most significant funding opportunity the company has encountered for this project.

"This provides an opportunity to get us to about halfway into what the total cost of the project is, so this is our best opportunity to date to make this happen," he said.

Erdley also addressed the price tag directly, noting that consolidating and upgrading the existing buildings is far more cost-effective than starting from scratch. "Again, over $3 million is a lot of money, but we're looking at if we had to try to do this in one piece as a brand new building, we're probably talking four times that," he said.

The company has not received a decision on the application, and no construction timeline has been announced. The capital campaign launch and any project start date would follow confirmation of the federal funding.