Roswell Firelabs fills the bill for those who like to tinker

By AMBER PERRY amber@appenmedia.com

ROSWELL, Ga. — Roswell Firelabs serves as a playground for visitors who like to tinker and create.

“It's basically like a recreation center for your brain,” Roswell Firelabs Executive Director William Strika said, sitting in the facility’s multi-purpose room. The room is home to electronics, HAM radio and sewing/cosplay workstations.

“It's just like somebody who goes to a gym to work out for physical strength,” Strika said. “You come here to kind of exercise your brain.”

Strika got together with a few people in 2017 and pitched an idea to the Roswell City Council to convert the newly vacated fire station on Holcomb Bridge Road into a makerspace. Roswell Firelabs, a volun- teer-driven nonprofit, opened in November 2018 with 40 members.

Membership grew rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic, Strika said, when people were losing their jobs, wanting to learn new skills or just wanting to get out of the house. Now, there’s around 145 members.

Roswell Firelabs offers regular classes on a variety of skills, open to the public. Members, who pay $50 a month, can receive classes for free or at discount. Strika teaches classes like laser cutting. Because he works his regular job remotely, he’s able to spend about six to eight hours a day at Roswell Firelabs.

“I love being here and helping everybody,” Strika said. “I wouldn't have it any other way.”

See FIRELABS, Page 11