Firehouse 16 Marks 60 Years in South Charlotte
Published on October 01, 2026
Members of today’s Firehouse 16 crew stand with the restored 1971 Seagrave that served as Engine 16 from 1974 until 1992. The apparatus returned to Park South Drive ahead of the firehouse’s 60th anniversary.
By Kevin Campbell, Charlotte Fire
Four old gumball machines sit inside Charlotte Firehouse 16, an easy detail to overlook among the apparatus, turnout gear and equipment that fill a working firehouse.
But the machines help tell a story that reaches back nearly as far as the firehouse itself.
One neighborhood resident, now in his 60s, remembers walking to Firehouse 16 as a child, getting a piece of candy or gum and spending time with the firefighters. Decades later, the machines are still there, part of a connection between the firehouse and its neighbors that has endured while much of south Charlotte has grown and changed around it.
The gumball and candy machines inside Firehouse 16 have been a familiar sight for generations of neighborhood children who stopped by to visit firefighters.
On Oct. 1, 2026, Firehouse 16 marks 60 years at 6623 Park South Drive. The firehouse opened Oct. 1, 1966, as Charlotte was expanding south and many of the surrounding neighborhoods were still relatively new.
Today, Engine 16 and Ladder 16 respond from the same location, known as the home of the “High Rollers.” Its 10.26-square-mile response area includes SouthPark, Beverly Woods, Starmount, Quail Hollow, Selwyn Park, Barclay Downs and Mountainbrook.
About 37,000 people live within the response area, which also includes businesses, hotels, churches and schools.
“For 60 years, Firehouse 16 has been part of this community, with generations of firefighters serving the people who live and work around it,” Fire Chief Reginald Johnson said. “Charlotte has grown tremendously since this firehouse opened in 1966, but the responsibility of the firefighters who report here each day has remained the same. They are here to serve this community when they are needed most.”
Engine 16 and Ladder 16 sit outside Firehouse 16 on Park South Drive. Charlotte firefighters have responded from the location since the firehouse opened in 1966.
Despite the growth surrounding it, Firehouse 16 has retained the feel of a neighborhood firehouse.
One Charlotte firefighter assigned there also lives nearby and sees that relationship from both sides.
“We’re in the middle of a neighborhood,” he said.
People regularly walk past with their children and dogs. When the apparatus bay doors are open, families stop to look inside or talk with the firefighters. The High Rollers identity has also become part of the personality of the house, appearing on its logo and throughout the living quarters.
The SouthPark “High Rollers” logo represents Engine 16 and Ladder 16 and has become part of the identity of Firehouse 16.
The connection with the neighborhood is not new.
The firefighter said one of his personal training clients, a man in his 60s who grew up nearby, remembers visiting Firehouse 16 as a child in the 1960s.
“He remembers coming in here, coming up and getting a gumball and hanging out, watching the guys work,” the firefighter said.
That sense of familiarity continues today. When a new apparatus was welcomed into Firehouse 16 during a traditional push-in ceremony, firefighters were struck by how many neighbors came to take part.
Community support also arrives in smaller ways. Residents bring food to the crews, and firefighters occasionally learn while buying groceries that someone else has quietly paid for their meal. During the holidays, neighbors drop off cookies, cakes and other food. One nearby community has maintained a tradition of preparing complete Thanksgiving meals, including fried turkeys and side dishes, for the shifts serving the area.
Firehouse 16 members gather around the table for a meal, part of the daily routine shared between calls, training and other responsibilities.
The relationship works both ways.
During a winter storm, firefighters loaded up their vehicles and went into the neighborhood to join children sledding in the snow. They moved from one sledding area to another, spent time with families and even joined in a snowball fight.
It was not a planned event or formal outreach program. The firefighters simply saw an opportunity to spend time with the people they serve.
“When you do stuff like that, they support you,” the firefighter said.
A Firehouse Built as Charlotte Grew
Firehouse 16’s history is closely tied to Charlotte’s expansion.
Former Charlotte Fire Chief Jon Hannan said the firehouse opened following annexation of the area. Before it became part of Charlotte, fire protection had been provided by the Sharon Volunteer Fire Department.
Hannan said neighborhoods around the firehouse and along South Boulevard began developing heavily during the late 1950s and early 1960s, creating the need for additional city fire protection as Charlotte grew south.
A Charlotte fire apparatus sits inside the newly opened Firehouse 16 on Oct. 1, 1966. Sixty years later, the firehouse continues to operate from Park South Drive.
When Firehouse 16 opened, it housed an engine company. Hannan, who began working in Charlotte Fire’s communications center in 1978, remembered Engine 16 as the only company assigned there at that time.
Ladder 16 arrived later, although the historical material available for the anniversary does not establish the exact year the ladder company was added.
The firehouse opened just before SouthPark Mall and at the beginning of decades of residential and commercial growth that would reshape the surrounding area. What was once a developing section of Charlotte eventually became one of the city’s most established residential and commercial districts.
Firehouse 16 changed along with it.
One piece of that history returned to Park South Drive ahead of the anniversary.
A restored 1971 Seagrave Cab-Forward 1500 GPM fire engine, known as “The 1500,” visited the firehouse, giving today’s firefighters an opportunity to see an apparatus that once responded from the same bays.
Charlotte City Council approved the purchase of two 1971 Seagrave engines on April 20, 1970, at a contract price of $43,465 each. The apparatus that later became Engine 16 initially entered service as Engine 21 at Firehouse 4.
In 1974, it was moved to Firehouse 16 and redesignated Engine 16. It remained in service there until 1992, when it was replaced by a newer engine.
The Seagrave later left Charlotte and was found listed for sale in Rochelle, Georgia, in 2004. It was brought back to Charlotte, restored and has since become a familiar sight at parades and other events.
The restored 1971 Seagrave Cab-Forward fire engine visits Firehouse 16. The apparatus served as Engine 16 from 1974 until 1992 before eventually returning to Charlotte for restoration.
While apparatus have changed, the address has remained constant.
Firehouse 16’s response area today combines large residential neighborhoods with schools, hotels, churches, businesses and major commercial development. A crew can move from a quiet residential street to a large commercial property during the same shift.
Hannan remembered the district historically as primarily residential, with some industry, and described the surrounding area as a stable community with many long-term residents.
That stability has helped shape the relationship between the firehouse and the people around it. For the firefighters assigned there, residents are not simply addresses on an incident report. They are the people who walk past the bays, stop to talk, bring their children to see the trucks and continue traditions that have connected the neighborhood to Firehouse 16 for decades.
From Neighborhood Calls to a Five-Alarm Fire
The work at Firehouse 16 can shift quickly from everyday responses in its neighborhoods to some of Charlotte Fire’s most demanding incidents.
That became especially clear in 2023 at Liberty Row in SouthPark.
A massive fire at the construction site ultimately grew to five alarms, bringing a large Charlotte Fire response to the area. Ladder 16 was the first Charlotte Fire company to arrive.
Ladder 16 operates at the 2023 five-alarm Liberty Row fire in SouthPark. Ladder 16 was the first Charlotte Fire company to arrive.
For a firehouse that had served SouthPark for decades, the incident placed its firefighters at the beginning of one of the most significant fires in the neighborhood’s recent history.
It also demonstrated how much the area had changed since 1966.
Firehouse 16 opened when many nearby neighborhoods were still developing and SouthPark was only beginning to emerge as a major commercial center. Six decades later, its crews protect a much denser environment with established neighborhoods, large businesses, hotels, schools and commercial developments.
The surroundings may be different, but much of firehouse life remains recognizable across generations.
Firefighters train, check apparatus and equipment, prepare meals together and remain ready to respond whenever a call comes in. Their work includes fires, medical emergencies, crashes and the broad range of incidents handled by the modern fire service.
Captain Squittieri and Engineer Olivieri represent the current generation of Charlotte firefighters serving from Firehouse 16.
Between those calls, the firehouse continues to be part of the neighborhood around it.
That connection is one reason some firefighters choose to stay.
The firefighter interviewed for the anniversary spent the first portion of his Charlotte Fire career on the east side, including about a decade at Firehouse 23 and additional time at Firehouse 14. After his family moved to south Charlotte, transferring to Firehouse 16 allowed him to work in the same community where he lived.
“I could walk to work if I wanted to,” he said.
Years later, he remains there.
Firehouse assignments inevitably change. Firefighters promote, retire or transfer, new members arrive and crews develop their own personalities. Yet the firehouse itself remains a constant on Park South Drive.
Firehouse 16 helmets carry the marks of the job and the High Rollers identity shared by firefighters assigned to the house.
Sixty Years Later
Firehouse 16’s place in Charlotte Fire history is not defined by a long list of major incidents. Much of its story is found instead in six decades of everyday service to a community that has grown around it.
It can be seen in the engine company that began responding from Park South Drive in 1966, the later addition of Ladder 16 and a restored Seagrave that once served there returning decades later to sit outside the same firehouse.
It is also found in the quieter moments that never make an incident report: children stopping by to see the trucks, neighbors bringing meals, someone quietly paying for a firefighter’s groceries and crews spending a snowy afternoon sledding with families in the neighborhood.
And inside Firehouse 16, those old gumball machines remain.
A man now in his 60s remembers coming to the firehouse to use them as a child. Children growing up nearby today can still walk through those doors.
That kind of continuity is difficult to capture in call statistics or response maps, but it has been part of Firehouse 16 for much of its history.
A well-worn Firehouse 16 helmet rests beneath the American flag inside the Park South Drive firehouse.
Since Oct. 1, 1966, Firehouse 16 has watched south Charlotte grow from developing neighborhoods into one of the city’s most established residential and commercial areas. Apparatus have changed, Charlotte has expanded and the demands placed on firefighters have evolved along with it.
Through those changes, Firehouse 16 has remained in the neighborhood it was built to serve, answering calls while maintaining a relationship with the people living just outside its doors.
Sixty years later, that connection remains as much a part of Firehouse 16 as Engine 16 and Ladder 16 themselves.