New fire station replaces 46-year-old firehouse at Blount Island

A train loaded with new cars trundled into JAXPORT’s fenced-in Blount Island Marine Terminal on Wednesday as city leaders officially opened a new fire station.

The new station, Station 48, replaces one opened 46 years ago inside the gates of the 2,000-acre marine terminal off Heckscher Drive.

The new station has room for a fire engine, tanker and a future rescue unit.

As the freight train blared its horn before rolling inside the terminal fence, Fire Chief Percy Golden II joked that “this is what firefighters in the middle of the night have to look forward to.” Then he said the new station meets a critical need the older facility could no longer serve.

“This is important not only the location because we are supporting JAXPORT, but being able to support the community on Heckscher Drive, this is huge,” Golden said. “This is a growing area and to be able to have quicker response times in this area is just a great thing for the citizens.”

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“That is progress. That is what we need in our city to make sure we enhance and support the future, for sustainability,” said District 2 City Council member Mike Gay. “Providing another fire station out her to serve the waterways and our community out here is just immeasurable.”

The original Fire Station 48 opened in 1978 to serve the port authority’s cargo facility and nearby homes and businesses in North Jacksonville.

The small station housed only one fire engine and had a flooding issue while also needing separate quarters for female firefighters Golden said. Its location inside the port authority’s security perimeter also meant that there were potential delays getting to issues on the mainland, fire officials said.

JAXPORT approached the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department about two years ago with the opportunity to partner on a federal Department of Defense grant for a new station.

A City Council bill, approved in 2023, proposed the facility on land leased from JAXPORT. The bill also included the fire boat, now docked a few blocks away along Heckscher Drive across a small bridge.

The new fire facility cost about $12 million, with $5.9 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Defense. It could not come at a better time, Mayor Donna Deegan said.

“Since the original Station 48 was built back in 1978, Jacksonville has transformed into a major metropolitan hub,” Deegan said. “So when JAXPORT approached us with an opportunity to apply for a DOD grant to help with the new and improved Station 48, we saw it as a smart investment opportunity in our future.”

Another fire station on the way

Jacksonville has five marine fire stations to handle its 22 miles of coastline and 1,100 miles of navigable waterways. Station 48 is the first of two older marine stations being replaced with bigger facilities.

Next comes Downtown Jacksonville’s Station 39, expected to open in November. The station, nearing completion off Gator Bowl Boulevard, will house fire boats now operating at Arlington’s Lions Club Park.

The station comes at a time when more fire protection is needed for a rapidly developing Downtown that includes the Rise Doro apartment complex, rebuilt after fire ravaged it in early 2024.

“It is in a growing area. We have the stadium and a lot of construction going on around it, and this will help support that, and the waterways,” Golden said. “We think of responses on the streets and highways, but we don’t think of the waterways. This is in a key point of that river where we can improve our response times as well.”

The new Station 39 is at 115 Festival Parkway, next to WJCT Studios and Metropolitan Park. It will cost $7.6 million when done.