New Barrie fire station will help service rapidly grow

The southeast corner of Barrie is finally getting its new fire station.

On Monday, the City of Barrie and the City's Fire Department helped to break ground on the construction of Fire Station 6, located at the Mapleview Drive East and Prince William Way intersection.

"We identified the southeast corner needing a fire station sometime around 2014," said Barrie Mayor Alex Nuttall. "Here we are a decade later and it's coming to life."

The new site, costing approximately $12 million, will help service what was previously annexed Innisfil land as it continues development.

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The next closest fire station, located on Big Bay Point Road, near Huronia Road, is approximately three kilometres from the new location and remains the only one in the vicinity.

"We have more residents in the area, plus once the street infrastructure gets in, it certainly affects our travel time," said Acting Barrie Fire Chief Derek Wilson. "So rather than country roads that are straight across, we now have more city grid, which doesn't allow us to meet our targeted response times."

Changing growth targets emphasize the need for the new site.

Mayor Nuttall said the initial growth expectations in the southeast end of Barrie were roughly 45,000 people by 2031.

"It's now up to 67,000 because of intensification," the mayor added. "So there are tons of people that require us to make major investments in terms of health services and emergency management."

Construction on the new location should take 14 to 18 months to complete.

One fire truck will be housed inside, along with four firefighters working on a 24/7 basis.

A timeline for making the fire station operational has yet to be determined, with the City still needing to hire and train its new firefighters.