The San Carlos Park Fire Protection District saw the need for two additional stations as far back as 2007, but a real estate recession and budget restraints delayed plans.
The district is catching up, as it built Station 54 on Oriole Road north of Alico Road in 2022 and will start construction of Station 55 on Three Oaks Parkway as soon as plans are approved by Lee County.
The station will be in front of Athenian Academy Charter School, a few hundred yards south of Three Oaks Middle School and across from The Grove at Portofino Vineyards apartment complex being built across the way.
The station will take between 12 to 18 months to build and cost no more than $5.3 million, said Alexis McLellan, public information officer for the district.
It will be the district’s smallest of five stations with one bay for one engine manned by three people and occasionally a rescue unit manned by two people. It won’t have room for a Lee County EMS unit, McLellan said.
The district worked with Lee County Public Safety to analyze call volumes and response times geographically to see what part of the district was outside the 4-to-6-minute response time guidelines suggested by National Fire Protection Association, McLellan said.
“It will make us feel safer and will be great for the plaza,” said Paul Yanopulos, owner of Three Oaks Pak & Ship, which is in the nearby shopping center that once housed Sweetbay Supermarket.
The fire district is one of the fastest growing in Southwest Florida. New shopping centers, commercial, industrial and single-family and multifamily homes are either planned or already being built.
The district has 1,900 apartments under construction, more than 3 million square feet of commercial, warehouse and industrial space north of Alico Road, according to the fire district’s fact sheet.
The number of calls has skyrocketed since 2003 when the Ben Hill Griffin station opened from 2,238 calls annually to 5,670 calls last year.
The district still has 10 square miles of undeveloped property, the extension of Three Oaks Parkway to Daniels Parkway and 2.1 million square feet of warehouse/industrial space next to Southwest Florida International Airport.
Station 55 won’t be the last, Fire Marshal Steve Lennon said. The next station expected to be built is east of Ben Hill Griffin Parkway.
San Carlos Park Fire Protection District stations
Station 51: On Sanibel Boulevard. Built in 1964. Has three bays.
Station 52: On Island Park Road. Built in 1986. Has two bays.
Station 53: Ben Hill Griffin Parkway. Built in 2003. Houses administrative offices.
Station 54: Oriole Road. Built in 2022. Has three bays.
