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New Fire Station Plans Presented

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By LENORA LAKE, Tribune correspondent

Published: October 6, 2007

UNIVERSITY AREA - A second fire station in the community west of the University of South Florida should improve service and 'make it more livable for the crews,' an assistant fire chief said this week.

Ron Rogers, assistant chief of administration, told people attending a public meeting Tuesday night that Hillsborough County Fire Rescue response times in the University Area are less than five minutes 55 percent of the time. The goal is less than five minutes 95 percent of the time.

That response time is expected when a second station opens in 2010 on a 15-acre, county-owned tract at the southwest corner of 139th Avenue and 12th Street.

The new station would take equipment and part of the staff from an existing station on 131st Avenue near 15th Street. That station, built in 1968, would be renovated when the new station opens.

'We are getting close to having health issues with our personnel' now at the station on 131st Avenue, which is crowded and has poor ventilation, Rogers said.

The new station, with three bays, will cost about $1 million. It will be a one-story building with about 7,000 square feet of space. Construction is expected to start in 2009, with completion in June 2010.

'This is the hottest spot in the county,' Jim Olsen, the department's specifications chief, said in reference to the high volume of calls in the community. 'It is getting that paramedic on-site' that is the real need.

Eighty percent of the calls are not for fire but are medically related, some of which are from auto accidents, he said.

Some attending Tuesday night's meeting expressed concern that it would not be enough assistance for the densely populated area. The station on 131st Avenue has the highest volume of calls in the county, about 7,000 a year.

Rogers said the county is approved for another station at Irene Street and Livingston Avenue but that plans for that facility are on hold.

'We had planned to open two stations a year, but the county can't commit to putting the crews in there with the tax reform looming,' Rogers said.

Possible changes in property tax laws are projected to significantly lower the county's revenue.

Other residents asked whether the 139th Avenue station could open before June 2010.

Rogers said the money will become available Oct. 1, 2008. If the design is ready, the contract awarded and the permits approved, the construction could start after that date.

'This is one area where if we can fast-track it, we will,' Rogers said.

Correspondent Lenora Lake can be reached at (813) 865-4851 or llake@tampatrib.com.

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