Fire Station 22 firefighters salute as the station's flag is raised for the first time on Wednesday, July 31, 2024. | Dan Scanlan, Jacksonville Today
Published on July 31, 2024 at 12:22 pm
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Everything old is new again, in the case of the second generation of Fire Station 22.
The station officially opened Wednesday on a 2-acre site on Lenox Avenue. It replaces a station that opened in 1966.
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The new $6.5 million fire station is the result of a conversation that Fire Chief Keith Powers had almost two years ago with the Rev. Vaughn McLaughlin, pastor of Potter’s House.
“I knew Potters House owned some of the land around here and asked if he would meet out here,” Powers said. “We met across the street — sat in my Tahoe — and had a conversation and felt like we could get something worked out. They sold us this piece of property for $365,000, which in today’s market is an absolute steal. He felt it was that important to get this community this fire station.”
The new station is staffed with six firefighters, an engine and a rescue unit. McLaughlin said he was excited to participate in the station’s grand opening.
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“To have first responders, to be able to have the type of safety this would provide — we have a school next door with hundreds of kids, another school one block away with hundreds of kids,” McLaughlin said. “To know that we have EMTs, that we have safety, for our facilities.”
The new Station 22 replaces a station two miles away at 2032 Jammes Road, built 58 years ago as a volunteer firefighter facility. Its crew handles more than 6,000 emergency runs a year in its Westside district and needed a newer, bigger home, Powers said.
“The station they were serving in was built in 1966, built for volunteers, and it did not have the room in it to house paid professional firefighters,” Powers said. “This is one of the busiest fire stations in the city and it will …. help us with a little bit of void we had here in between Station 32, Station 17 and 10, and help with those run numbers and get quicker response times in that area.”
Ground was broken just over a year ago on the new station, just west of Lane Avenue.
The Westside community where the new station opened also benefits from Station 75 at Wilson Boulevard and Interstate 295, Powers said. That $6.5 million facility also has six firefighters, a rescue truck and a fire engine, handling some of Station 22’s territory and further reducing overall response times, Powers said.
