The Gray’s Creek Volunteer Fire Department Station #18 will host an open house for their new fire station at 6975 Fire Department Road, Hope Mills, on June 5 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The official opening ceremony begins at 11 a.m. The open house will feature food, music, equipment displays, bounce houses, fire hats and stickers for kids. Firefighters will also give station tours.

The former fire station, which sits at 7010 Fire Department Road across the street from the new building, was built in 1972, the year the department was chartered.

Construction on the new facility began Sept. 19, 2019. The new building sits on four acres of land and is 16,000 square feet, more than triple the size of the old building. The department received a $2 million, 40-year loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development to finance the building.

“This is an exciting moment for our firefighters because our crew and equipment had outgrown the station twice and we needed a solution to better serve the community,” said Gray’s Creek Fire Station #18 Chief Kevin Herndon.