HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — New doors are opening in South Hillsborough County.
In the first week of 2023, Hillsborough Fire and Rescue celebrated the new Fire Station 45 in Brandon and the relocation of Station 29 in Apollo Beach.
Among the crowd of people celebrating State 45's new building was Jim Wheatley. The retired veteran and former volunteer firefighter live in Central Brandon, where Station 45 services.
"We need these services desperately. You can't compare the cost of a fire station to a life," Wheatley said.
Wheatley moved to Brandon in 2000. Within ten years of moving here, the population in the county grew by 20%. Fire station call volumes went from under 90,000 to 130,000 in that time span. However, not one single fire station opened. As people moved into Brandon, only one fire station served the area.
"When you have that fear of dying, and you pick up that phone, and you're expecting some help, we need to get that out to these people in the community. You know, we need that," Wheatley added.
Wheatley himself understands how important a nearby fire station is. Station 45 was there when he needed him.
"These guys came out and got me. It was critical. I was dying," he said. "I'm serious, half an hour later. I'm on the table. They're doing (open heart) surgery."
Fire Chief Dennis Jones says it's called like that to keep the firefighters busy.
"Since 2015, we've added 12 Rescue ambulances going from 28 ambulances to 40 ambulances, and this is significant as 85% or more of our emergency calls are for Medical," he said.
Now the county has plans to put 24 new fire stations in areas master planning shows need it most.
"The key factor which drives master planning is response times and the time it takes for the fire unit to arrive at your emergency call once you've dialed 911. It's critical that we arrive within eight minutes or less to a fire or medical emergency to provide positive results and resolving the situation," Chief Jones explained. "Improvement can only occur if we can place an adequate number of emergency response units close enough to our citizens."
Station 45 in Brandon was identified as a critical need area. Just two years after opening, the county saw just how crucial the need for the station was.
"45 became one of the top five busiest stations in the county," said Chief Jones.
In Hillsborough County, Tampa isn't the only hot place to live. Southern Hillsborough is growing too. Yet, the need for more fire stations exists.
"You think about the fast-growing communities, and you can't have a fire station and you're going somewhere 20 minutes late, you're not going to get there in time," said County Commissioner Gwen Myers.
The goal isn’t just to put up new fire stations. The county wants to renovate and update existing ones as well.
"In each budget year, we're going to put some money in our budget to be able to fill, or replace, or renovate new fire stations. To bring them up to date to the state of the art, because that's what, when we look at our fire departments, that's what we have to do," said Commissioner Myers.
Next month, the county will open Station 46. Station 47 is currently under design.
