POINCIANA, Fla. – Osceola County broke ground on a new fire station on Monday that will bring back Osceola firefighters who are currently working out of a Polk County station.
Osceola County Fire Chief, Larry Collier said Osceola and Polk counties have had a partnership with one another to not only provide service in Osceola County but in Polk County too.
Currently, some Osceola County firefighters are at station 65, which is a Polk County fire station just over the Osceola-Polk county line. Firefighters at Station 65 will eventually move to the station officials broke ground on Monday, which will be called Station 85.
“As it progressed and as the station continued to grow, it became more and more evident that we needed to start moving closer and to within Osceola County to be able to provide a better level of service,” Collier said.
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Officials said the new station will look similar to other stations that have been built. This comes at a time when Osceola County is experiencing population growth. Officials said this new station will improve response times in the community.
“Well, as population goes, so does the call volume and the workload on the men and women of the department,” Collier said. “They’ve done an excellent job in managing it, but we’re at the point now where we’ve done everything we possibly can. Now we just need more people and more stations and more units.”
Osceola County Commissioner, Brandon Arrington said the construction will be funded by Ad Valorem tax dollars and said this station was a long time coming.
“Local governments continue to find creative ways to move forward, whether or not might be without the help of the state or federal government sometimes, but still finding creative ways to work within our tax base to make things happen for our community,” Arrington said.
The new station is expected to open in 2024.
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