Construction begins on new Cape Coral fire station

Construction is underway on a much-needed fire station in Cape Coral.

Station 12 will be located on Chiquita Boulevard South just north of Veterans Parkway, and it isn’t the only station they’re planning to build.

Chief Ryan Lamb said the city’s also looking at placing a station near the corridor of Pine Island and Pondella roads.

“Our goal as a city is from what we’d like to say hello to hello, from a 911 ‘Hello, how can I help you?’ to a firefighter knocking on your door, we want to be under 10 minutes,” Lamb said.

Lamb believes the new station off Chiquita will help his firefighters do just that. The city broke ground on the building earlier this month.

“What response times also do is it improves insurance rates for residents as well. If they get to a scene quicker, it just helps with that side of it too, so the investment, the price tag goes beyond what we might pay in dollars,” said Councilmember Tom Hayden.

The $4.5 million station will also be able to withstand a major storm.

Lamb said the department’s planning for more stations. As the city grows, so must the fire department.

“Station 13, we’re looking at somewhere along the Pondella, Pine Island Road, Del Prado area,” he said.

“We’re seeing a lot of calls in that area’ we’ve seen a lot of growth in that area as well. We’ve seen a lot of multi-family development, especially along that Pine Island corridor, there’s been lots and lots of growth. Part of this is just trying to keep up city services to city growth.”

Lamb said right now, it takes about 12 to 13 minutes to cover some areas in this district. He hopes with the new addition, it’ll take some pressure off Station 6, which currently serves the area, as do Stations 4 and 8.

The station is expected to be complete in March of next year.