CAPE CORAL, Fla. — A grand opening of Fire Station 12 at 2129 Chiquita Boulevard is set for Wednesday afternoon in Cape Coral.
Mayor Gunter, Councilmember Welsh, and Fire Chief Lamb will all be in attendance.
The city says the response district for Fire Station 12 incorporates areas previously covered by Stations 4, 6, and 8 and services a population of over 20,000.
They expect to respond to 2,500 emergency calls annually.
The new station will improve response times in the west-central area of Cape Coral.
“A fire doubles in size every 30 seconds, or imagine having difficulty breathing. In an emergency, every second counts,” said Fire Chief Ryan W. Lamb, “The addition of Fire Station 12 will greatly reduce response times to residents in this quickly growing community.”
Pat Clauson has lived in Cape Coral for five years, and is one of those 20,000 residents that now has a new fire station.
She says that as she watched the city's population boom, it became more difficult for her to get ahold of 911 dispatchers when one of her family members suffered from an aneurysm - and she even had to call Cape Coral Police to dispatch instead.
Fire Chief Lamb says that his hope is the new station can help with the response times, cutting them down for the west central district of Cape Coral by two or three minutes - and that no one else will have to go through the experience she had.
"I'm hoping this is a better response. Well, I know it will be because I can walk - I can walk down the street now. I couldn't then. So I think it's a bonus, but only time will tell," says Clauson.
