CAPE CORAL, Fla. — We've all noticed how quickly Cape Coral is growing, especially our first responders, who spend all day out on the road.
Fox 4 Cape Coral Community Correspondent Bella Line has connections with the Cape Coral Fire Department, and they gave her a heads-up about a brand new firehouse. The city hopes it will ease the load on some of its busiest stations.
"This station in particular is kind of located at the center of Cape Coral," said Mike Russell, Acting Fire Chief.
Cape Coral Fire Station 13 is located south of Pine Island Road and east of Del Prado Boulevard, a rapidly growing part of the city.
"Currently, the response times can be extended because the two busiest districts in the city, two and five, share this district," said Russell. "Today, we're excited to open this up and spread that district out."
Russell says this new station will service nearly 30,000 people and is expected to average around 3,200 calls per year.
That's more than 11% of their current total call volume.
"What I've noticed is obviously continues to grow at three, or four, or 5000 people a year," said Tom Hayden, City Council District 3. "I think what's also significant is that in my three and a half years here, we built three fire stations, which is incredibly significant for those areas of the city."
Dave Rayborn, Division Chief of Logistics, says they focused on the safety of their firefighters as one of their main priorities with Station 13.
Station 13 has the following new safety features:
- New bay garage doors that open up in 6 seconds for their trucks
- A 'hot, warm, cool' pressure system that gets rid of contaminants before people enter the living areas
- A window into the gym in case someone gets hurt, people can see in to help them
- Gear cleaning equipment that will help prevent cancer
"We've really put a lot of thought and energy into making it better with the health and safety of the firefighters along with being able to get out faster," said Rayborn.
Russell says the department has plans to open another station in the future, as well as a police and fire-shared training facility.
