Hillsborough Firefighters Sound Alarm For More Fire Stations

TAMPA, FL -- Challenged with an increasing number of calls in the growing unincorporated area of Hillsborough County, firefighters say they are struggling to keep up with the demand.

They are asking the Hillsborough County Commission to commit to building at least one new fire station a year for the next 25 to 30 years to keep up with growth.

A large contingent of Hillsborough County firefighters attended last week's county commission meeting to plead their case.

Travis Horn, a spokesman for the Hillsborough County Firefighters Union, outlined the problem.

"Our firefighters and paramedics are handling calls at a frenetic pace," he said. "Call volumes are way up over the last decade while the growth of the department, particularly the construction of new fire stations, has remained virtually static."

Over the past decade, only one new station has been built and another rebuilt in unincorporated Hillsborough County despite growth throughout the area, especially in south Hillsborough County, Horn said.

“Simply building one fire station over the last decade and rebuilding another is not enough to keep pace with the growth we’ve seen.”

In March 2018, the county opened a new fire station in FishHawk Ranch, the first additional fire station since 2006.

Fire Chief Dennis Jones said new stations are critical to the department meeting response times, noting that the department's goal is to respond to calls within six or seven minutes.

"We try to do that 90 percent of the time, and we're making it about half that now," he said.

“We’re at that point where we are nervous for the citizens of this county, all over Hillsborough County," said Derrick Ryan, president of the International Association of Firefighters Local 2294, which represents Hillsborough County firefighters. He said last year Hillsborough County firefighters responded to 110,000 calls.

It costs about $4 million to build a new fire station. Currently, the county has 44 fire stations.

Jones said Sun City Center is due for the next station followed by a station around Slugh Avenue/Anderson Road in Town 'n Country.

"But there are needs all over the county," he said.

In 2017 the department asked the county commission to allocate enough funding to build 25 more fire stations, but the request was rejected.

Horn said he hopes to begin a "constructive dialogue" with county commissioners before this year's budget process gets underway so commissioners are aware of the dire need.

Image via Hillsborough County Fire Rescue

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