By Martie Thompson
editor@floridanewsline..com
WIth population growth comes the need for additional county services and in early 2020, St. Johns County plans to open its newest fire station — Station 19 on Veterans Parkway near the corner of Race Track Road.
“The construction project has been ongoing for about four months,” Deputy Chief of St. Johns County Fire Rescue Jeremy Robshaw said. “Our goal for completion is late winter/early spring of 2020.”
The 9,000 sq. ft. fire station, which will cost $3.4 million inclusive of apparatus, according to Robshaw, will have three bays with an anticipated initial staff of three for the suppression vehicle (either a fire engine or ladder truck) and two people for the rescue vehicle or ambulance.
“All of this is budgeted in the 2020 county budget,” Robshaw said.
Presently a multitude of stations support the area where Station 19 will be built: Station 2 on State Road 13 North, Station 17 on County Road 210, Station 15 on US Highway 1 North, and Station 18 in Nocatee. But according to Robshaw, there is a gap in the area surrounding the proposed new station, especially as pertains to the Insurance Services Organization (ISO) five mile requirement. From an insurance perspective, one of the factors considered in home insurance premium is if a home is within five miles of a fire station.
“This new station will relieve some of the strain on our other resources,” Robshaw said. “For us this will mean a faster and more efficient response time, but for residents it will likely mean a savings on their insurance.”
Artist’s rendering courtesy St. Johns County Fire Rescue
Station 19 will have three bays.
