The long anticipated Fire Station Three is officially on its way.
The groundbreaking ceremony for the new site located on Park Road was held Friday, Sept. 21. Members of the Plant City Fire Rescue were joined by the mayor, city manager and city commissioners to ring in the big event.
Fire Chief David Burnett said 2019 was going to be a “remarkable year” for the department, one they had been looking forward to years. City Manager Bill McDaniel explained that the fight to bring Fire Station Three into fruition was long and complex.
“We didn’t arrive here easily,” McDaniel said. “Today has been years in the making and I mean literal years. There’s been a discussion about a third fire station for as many years as I can recall and over the last several years we’ve worked very diligently and very seriously toward arriving at this point that we can see groundbreaking, construction and Fire Station Three being a reality for Plant City.”
Despite the multiple hurdles the city had to overcome to get to the groundbreaking, including altering budgets and a changing economy, McDaniel said the commissioners had been behind the development 100% throughout the entire process.
Mayor Rick Lott said in regards to the budget there was a decision that had to be made. They could cut costs and go for lesser quality materials to try and meet the original budget, or they could vote to allocate more funds to provide the high quality station they had originally dreamed of. He said the firefighters in Plant City and the entire city deserved nothing but the best so it wasn’t a difficult decision to make.
The station ended up being $600,000 over budget. With a unanimous vote, all five commissioners voted to amend the original budget and get the project rolling.
The new fire station will not only enhance current levels of service but sets the city up to be fully prepared for the growth that is on its way. With the addition of upcoming residential communities like North Park Isle, which is set to be built north of I-4, there will soon be a demand for emergency service stations on the northeast side of the city.
“This not only provides a higher level of service to our citizens in east Plant City, but by taking that work off of our other two stations, it raises the bar and raises the service throughout all of our city,” Lott said. “All citizens will feel the impact of this station. I love it when you make a decision and everyone gets to participate in it.”
Commissioner Mike Sparkman explained that once Fire Station Three is finished there will be no section of the city that will be impeded by a train track. Though the delays are rare, a truck being stopped due to a passing or sometimes stalled train can heavily impact rescues or response times. The new station on Park Road, along with the two stations on Alexander Street, help complete the map.
Sparkman fondly recounted his days as a volunteer firefighter in high school. He said when he was a junior at Plant City High School in 1960 he would stay the night in the old fire station on the second floor.
“The first time I slid down the pole I forgot to hold on and fell on the fireman below me,” Sparkman said. “But we had some times and great opportunities. I loved it and so did the rest of the six volunteers.”
When he became a city commissioner in 1989, he made it his mission to lobby for more support to Plant City’s first responders. Both the Fire Rescue and the Plant City Police Department have been his special focuses during his multiple terms. He said watching a major business burn to the ground a few years before coming on the commission made him even more dedicated to ensuring we had a great force with state of the art facilities and equipment.
“The men and women of our Plant City Fire Department are second to none,” Sparkman said. “I’m so proud of our fire, our paramedics and ambulance services. It creates a service to our community that’s second to none.”