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In about a year, Fire Station 8 will become a reality, made possible by a collaborative effort between residents, the City of Lakeland, design and construction teams, and state and federal representatives.
Many of those vital to the project joined in the groundbreaking at Sleepy Hill Road and Mall Hill Drive on Thursday, June 4.
“Today marks the beginning of the construction phase of a project that has required thoughtful planning, strong collaboration, and support for many people across the organization,” said Lakeland Fire Department (LFD) Assistant Chief Matt Brown.
“This project reflects a shared commitment to public safety and to planning for the continued growth of our community,” Brown said.
LFD Fire Chief Doug Riley said the station has been a long time coming.
“We started planning and talking and the vision of this fire station when I was a lot thinner, and I still had brown hair, so we’re so excited, so excited to be here today.”
Also read our companion article
Exceptional service
“I came in in 2019, and we knew that we had a need for service in this area,” said Mayor Sara Roberts McCarley. “We have the data to back it up. We want to keep response times low. When we call 911, as I had to do before I was widowed, you want someone there fast.”
“Everything to us is about run numbers and run times,” Riley said. “And as we project for the future, we watch the data, and we watch the trends, and as the city grows — more people, more cars, more buildings — then we get more calls for service.”
“We hope you never do, but when you need us, we want to be there with the highly trained, the best people we can send to you, in the quickest manner,” he said. “Our citizens, our visitors, all of you, not only deserve but expect a high level service, and that’s why we’re continuing by adding to resources and growing our fire department and continuing to provide that for our citizens.”
“The level of service from the men and women of the Lakeland Fire Department are second to none.”
City Manager Shawn Sherrouse said the LFD can back up their claim to exceptional service, citing Insurance Services Office (ISO) ratings. On a scale from one to 10, ISO ratings measures a department’s performance in areas like staffing, training, water supply, and communications.
“An ISO rating of one is the highest and best rating that you can achieve,” Sherrouse said. “And our fire department has and maintains an ISO rating of one.”
Sherrouse said that means that LFD is providing the very best services they possibly can. “What’s also interesting is for properties who are serviced by our fire department, you actually get a discount on your insurance premiums for being served by a fire station with an ISO rating of one.”
“Out of about 45,000 fire agencies in the United States, there’s only about 400 to 450 that have an ISO rating of one — very rare — and our fire department and that team achieves that, so it makes it easy then when we need to invest,” Sherrouse said.
Of 461 fire departments Florida, 52 or only 11% have an ISO rating of one, according to Verisk Analytics, the company that assigns ISO ratings.
McCarley said Fire Station 8 will also service Interstate 4. “If you think about the volume of people that are on I-4 every day, our team will get there first, unfortunately, on what might be one of their worst days, and we want to give them the best tools, the best power, the best equipment possible to make sure that they can service in those extreme circumstances.”
A collaborative effort
“A lot of people have done a lot of heavy lifting to get us here today, a lot of support from a lot of people, and we can’t thank you all enough,” Riley said, a sentiment echoed by all of the speakers.
Brown recognized those in attendance who helped make the station a reality: Mayor McCarley, members of the City Commission, including Guy LaLonde Jr., Mike Musick, Terry Coney, Ashley Troutman, and Stephanie Madden, Lakeland Finance Director Mike Brossart and other city staff members, CPZ Architects, Rodda Construction, and Representative Jennifer Canady (HD50). Congressman Scott Franklin (FL-18) and Congresswoman Laurel Lee (FL-15) were unable to attend and sent representatives from their offices.
McCarley said Representative Jennifer Canady and Congresswoman Laura Lee were instrumental in making Fire Station 8 a reality. “Those two incredible leaders came alongside of us,” McCarley said. “They really, really listen to us when we say, ‘Hey, not only do we want this as a City Commission, not only is our fire department asking for this, our community is begging for it, and we want to provide that good and true service.’”
“We can’t have a city if we’re not safe, and so we’re all vastly committed to that,” McCarley said.
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