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Saskatoon’s Fire Station No. 5 has moved to a new location along Preston Avenue North.
The previous Fire Station No. 5 was located in Sutherland along Central Avenue by ACT Arena.
Fire Chief Morgan Hackl explained why the move was necessary.
“The new location was selected with the aim of increasing both safety and efficiency,” Hackl said Tuesday during the new station’s grand opening.
“What we realized through the mapping analysis is that there was overlapping in University Heights between Station House 9 and Station House 5 in Sutherland, so by moving it to this location, we were able to reduce some of that overlap.”
The move of the station was to also address some issues that the Saskatoon Fire Department noticed.
“We wanted to address some areas of concern, one being parts of the University and others being into Varsity View,” said Hackl.
The previous Fire Station No. 5 station had been in operation since 1966.
Hackl previously said a review had been in the works since 2014 in terms of a new location to help improve travel times in certain communities in Saskatoon.
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.
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 fire station will feature a reserve apparatus and a frontline engine. The station staff will be the same staff from the previous station and will see four firefighter-paramedics alongside one officer.
“For this location, it was just a matter of moving current staff over. There was no addition of fire staff for this move,” said Hackl.
Inside the fire station is a shared cultural space that features the work of students from Oskāyak High School. The station will have new artwork as the seasons change so that many different students’ artwork can be put on display.
The fire station is scheduled to be fully operational by mid-September once Life Safety tests are complete.
The 10,000-square-foot, two-storey fire station consists of two full bays. Overall, the construction cost $6.8 million.
Artwork by students from Oskāyak High School adorns the walls of Fire Station No. 5 (Will Mandzuk/650 CKOM)