GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Grand Rapids recently announced a major investment in public safety— plans to build a new fire station.
The new station will be in the southeast section of the third ward.
The city agreed to buy a property on Kalamazoo Avenue SE, north of 44th Street near Kendall Street SE, for $500,000.
It would consist of a three-person crew and a fire engine.
FOX 17 talked with Assistant Fire Chief Eric Freeman about the project. He says the Grand Rapids Fire Department has just one fire station in the third ward right now.
“This would be the first time we’ve built a new station in over 40 years,” Freeman said.
The city is tracking the number of calls. Data shows GRFD has been underserving the area since 2015.
“We are underserving up to 14,000 people in that area,” Freeman explained. “We’ve had an increase in the number of runs in that district.”
GRFD’s 2022 audit shows simultaneous calls— which is when the department gets a call while another station is out on a call already— are up almost 11% since 2013.
“As soon as we pull that Burton station, now there’s another big hole. It’s almost like pulling a piece of yarn right or piece of thread, you know, it starts to unravel and so we need to make sure we have enough resources,” Freeman added. “I want to see that we’re taking care of all the citizens of Grand Rapids, we’re making sure that we live up to our high standards of taking care of them in a timely manner and make sure they get the best service they can get.”
The city has not yet said when it plans to start building the new fire station.
