A design drawing shows the new First Station 2 in Fernandina Beach. | Passero Associates
Published on March 6, 2024 at 10:54 am
A new $5 million fire station is nearing completion next to Fernandina Beach Municipal Airport.
The station is on Airport Road, just off Amelia Island Parkway. It will replace a 40-year-old station on John S. Robas Road that is small, outdated and only a block off the beach, Fire Chief Ty Silcox said.
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“Trying to move a station inland to where we can operate even during storms, that was a reason,” Silcox said. “There is a lot of growth that is occurring in this area, but it also allows us to have a better coverage with our response being in the center of the island.”
The Fernandina Beach Fire Department has two stations — Station 1 at 1 South 14th St. and Station 2 just south of Sadler Road. Those stations have 33 certified firefighters handling fire and rescue services inside the Fernandina Beach city limits. Nassau County Fire Rescue has eight stations around the county, with two in Fernandina Beach — Station 20 on First Coast Highway and Station 70 on Pine Grove Road.
The Fernandina Beach City Commission made the decision in mid-2020 to move ahead with design of the new fire station and broke ground at the site next to the airport’s north runway just under a year later. Blackwater Construction Services is building the combination Fire Station 2 and Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting facility.
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The 10,750-square-foot, preengineered metal fire station building has four bays, with a meeting room, offices, kitchen area, fitness room, day room, bunk rooms and bathrooms. The $5 million project also has a four-story training tower, Silcox said.
“It is going to house six people per day, and it will also have a rescue unit, fire engine and a ladder truck, then eventually an aircraft firefighting vehicle” he said. “We have for a long time needed a training facility, and this station has a classroom that will seat about 50 personnel. We also have the training there, and there will be some additional training props constructed on that site.”
The new fire station shares Airport Road with multiple aircraft hangars and the control tower, as well as the Nassau Humane Society and warehouses. A soccer and baseball field complex is just west of it, as are numerous large subdivisions.
“The airport did figure into it, but it was not the main reason,” he said. “We are not required to provide protection on the airfield, but it will be a benefit, and in building there, we are able to provide that protection much better for that location.”
The new fire station should officially open in May.
Lead image: A design drawing shows the new First Station 2 in Fernandina Beach. | Passero Associates
