Virginia Beach, Va. (WTKR) - The Virginia Beach City Council was briefed this week on a proposal to build a new Fire and EMS Station to serve the Diamond Springs and Burton Station communities.
Back in 2001, a study identified eight sections of Virginia Beach that were located more than four minutes of travel time from a fire station. That same study recommended relocating four older fire station or building four new ones to fill the gaps.
Over the past decade, three fire stations have been relocated based on the research, including First Landing, Town Center and Chesapeake Beach.
On Tuesday, City Council was briefed on the proposal to build a new Fire and EMS Station to serve the Diamond Springs and Burton Station area. It would have both an engine and ladder company, as well as an EMS ambulance.
District Fire Chief Vance Cooper tells NewsChannel 3 basing a new station there would cut down on fire response times to the area, which is growing fast.
"This area consists of about 10-percent of our call volume. We have about 40,000 plus calls per year and 10-percent of our calls are from this area," he told NewsChannel 3's Todd Corillo Friday.
A new station would also improve automatic aid support with the City of Norfolk, Norfolk International Airport and Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story.
The proposed building would house 10 firefighters and up to five EMS personnel on a daily basis in a three or four bay station.
Cooper says the construction of a new station would address current gaps in that area and also provide capacity for future growth.
Right now, the proposal would focus on funding design for the new station in FY2017, with actual construction happening in FY2018.
