Officials rule out temporary firehouse

The deputy chief says it would be considered if space was loaned in the city's northwest before the permanent station is built.

By JENNIFER FARRELL, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published January 16, 2003

CLEARWATER -- With construction to begin this spring on a fire station in the city's northwest section, building a temporary home nearby doesn't make sense, fire officials said.

Code regulations require minimum standards, and a station must include showers, and cooking and sleeping areas, meaning a temporary construction would be expensive, officials say.

But if any businesses in the area have some extra space to lend, Deputy Chief Terry Welker wants to know.

"Please call me," he said Tuesday during a community meeting on the new station at the Martin Luther King Recreation Center. "We will come right out to the business and look at it."

Welker's comments came in response to criticism last week from fire union president John Lee and North Greenwood Association president Jonathan Wade, who have asked the city to find an interim solution until the new station is finished early next year.

For years, fire rescue response times have lagged in Clearwater's northwest section, and city officials promised that the new station would address the coverage gap.

But finding the right property took far longer than expected, and the project is running more than a year behind schedule. The station will likely open in February 2004 on 1.5 acres of a 4.2-acre parcel at Overbrook Avenue and Betty Lane.

In arguing for a temporary facility, Lee pointed to a temporary station set up on Sand Key during construction of a new station there. He said the people in the city's northwest section deserve the same treatment.

On Tuesday, Welker said the comparison is unfair because Sand Key is remote and space was offered for free.

"It was a perfect match," Welker said.

On Tuesday, Wade said he is eager for the new station to be built.

"If something can be done sooner," he said, "we would like to see that."

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