Fanning the Flames Inside A Firehouse

Going from the jailhouse right into the fire station.

That is how I arrived inside this abandoned firehouse located on a corner street of a busy road. My friend and I had just left a drug riddled abandoned jail where drug users shoot crack heroin into their veins. After leaving, we headed to what I assumed was an abandoned church I came across in my research. It turns out after all, that this particular church was indeed not abandoned. It was not until I got back home that I found out that the church that I was looking for was about 10-12 blocks back in the opposite direction. Sometimes you miss the obvious. Anyway, my friend found this "rando" as he called it. A rando is a random abandoned place you find while randomly driving to another location. Spotting a rando is easy. You keep your eyes peeled for the telltale signs of abandonment. Boarded up windows, chain link fences, unkempt property, and general non-human activity.

We turned around and parked the car. First, we went to scope out a back entrance and found out that the back fence was too high to scale plus backing the property was an active shelter residence. In our first attempt at gaining entrance, we failed. About half an hour later we returned after gaining access to another rando apartment complex just down the street from this location. In our second attempt, we found access through the fence and straight inside the back of the firehouse.  Masks on and our cameras out we headed in without hesitation. The first floor housed what was the fire engine area and firefighter front room common area. On the other side, the inside of the second floor had found its way inside the first floor. Finding out later, this prevented us access to the leaning tower this firehouse had onsite. It would have been an amazing view to see out from inside the tower wall.

Heading up the dark staircase to the second floor, we entered the rest area quarters and what must have been either a break room or living room space. In the back, we found lockers and old gym equipment once used by the bravest responders the city had at this station. Unfortunately, this room was soon to be heading downstairs due to the sagging floor. We were lucky it didn't come down on our heads. Taking our shots, we headed back downstairs one more time and went down dust covered stairs into the wet and dark basement. Inside the basement held old fire hoses, chairs, and tables. Unknown to the property holder, the city, a burst pipe was gushing water inside the basement floor unseen and unheard to anyone on the outside. For some reason, the entire basement was not flooded only the front portion. Due to the severity of darkness, the water seemed to be exiting into either a drain or the other side of the property no longer accessible due to the caved in second floor above.

Exiting the firehouse we headed to our next location an hour away.