New fire station will help growing city, says Charlottetown fire chief
'We want to make sure we look after today's needs and tomorrow's needs as well'
A new fire station in a more central location is a good thing for the capital city, says Charlottetown Fire Chief Randy MacDonald.
City council voted Monday to purchase land and build a new fire station on Malpeque Road to help centralize the department in that coverage area. It will replace the present fire station in the Sherwood area.
"Our city is growing and it's growing fairly quickly, so we want to make sure we look after today's needs and tomorrow's needs as well."
A study conducted in 2006 stated the fire department needed to be closer to West Royalty Business Park and apartment buildings in that area.
No effect on response times
"Now's the time to move the station more centre to the overall coverage of station two," MacDonald told Kerry Campbell in an interview with CBC News: Compass.
Centralizing the station should not make much of a difference in response times, MacDonald added.
"I'm not seeing a negative impact on response times."
When asked why it was important to move the station if it wouldn't improve response times, McDonald said the station needs to be closer to the industrial park where the high hazards are located.
While the cost to purchase the property is $870,000, it is still not known what the cost will be to build the new station.
"The preliminary plans have not been done and of course the square footage changes from one year to the next so we're not going to use old numbers, we're going to use new numbers. That will be part of the process," MacDonald said.
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With files from Kerry Campbell