Saskatoon Fire Department opening new station on university campus

The Saskatoon Fire Department is putting a brand new fire station along Preston Avenue, near 108th Street.

The new station is replacing the current Fire Station No. 5 on Central Avenue in Sutherland that has been around since 1966.

Fire Chief Morgan Hackl said Thursday a review has been in the works since 2014 in terms of a new location to help improve travel times in certain communities in Saskatoon.

“It’s going to benefit the entire community as we look at the overall model,” Hackl said. “What it does now for especially the university and the surrounding communities (is) it’s actually going to improve our response model.”

The land for the new station is being leased from the University of Saskatchewan. Aside from the university, communities like Sutherland, Greystone Heights and Grosvenor Park will be within range of the new fire station.

“Computer-generated mapping revealed that relocating Station No. 5 closer to the intersection of College Drive and Preston Avenue will put our fire service in a better position to meet the four-minute travel time set out by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and better utilize resources,” the Saskatoon Fire Department said in a media release.

The move will also go a long way in saving funds that instead would have been used to build the city’s 10th fire station in Stonebridge.

“The relocation of Station No. 3 to Clarence (Avenue) and Wilson (Street) in 2018 was the first phase of this better model to support a large area of the east side of Saskatoon,” Hackl said.

“We realized if we move these two stations, we could have capital cost savings of over $6 million a year.”

U of S president Peter Stoicheff said the school continues to grow and the need for a nearby station is becoming more serious.

“We’re not getting smaller, we’re getting bigger and to have a fire station close to a campus that is growing every year is a very meaningful thing,” Stoicheff said.

The 10,000-square-foot, two-storey fire station will consist of two full bays that will hold one operational fire engine and another two reserve apparatus.

Overall, the construction will cost $6.8 million with a planned opening date for the station of July 2023.