Gainesville’s newest fire station, the Alachua County Fire Rescue Station 33, located at 5901 NW 34th Blvd., opened near Northside Park on Friday morning.
County Commissioner Ken Cornell cut the ribbon at about 10 a.m. and told the roughly 30 people in attendance the station would provide the area with access to more first responders.
“Your County Commission believes in public safety as a top priority, and this station shows that,” Cornell said.
The station, which is 7,754 square feet, is equipped with one 24-hour ambulance and five ambulances that operate at a 40-hour schedule, Cornell said. It took $2.9 million and a year to build.
An older station at that location was closed more than a year ago to be replaced with a more efficient station, said Harold Theus, the AFR deputy fire chief. The original station, which was one of the first fire stations in Alachua County, was a home that was donated by a resident in the 1970s to the county, Theus said.
Theus said this station is built to house emergency medical services, not fire engines.
The station, which can withstand a Category 3 hurricane, has a large kitchen, showers, an office area and a TV-viewing area for rescuers, Theus said.
Cornell said the responders who started working at the station will be among those who save citizens from crisis.
“I’m proud to say that the Alachua County Fire Rescue do a wonderful job at keeping fire stations and rescue stations in place, keeping our first responders safe and most of all keeping our citizens safe, so for that I thank you,” Cornell said.
Alachua County Commissioner Ken Cornell cuts the ribbon in front of the new Fire Rescue Station 33, located at 5901 NW 34th Blvd., on Friday. The station will house six ambulances.
