SOUTH PASADENA, Fla. — As our communities grow and evolve, 10 Tampa Bay has shown how fire departments across the area are adapting to meet our needs.
In South Pasadena, the small city is sandwiched between Gulfport, Treasure Island, St. Petersburg and St. Pete Beach.
The town will soon have a brand new, state-of-the-art fire station. The current fire station was built nearly 50 years ago. If you take a tour through the building, you can tell.
"But a lot has changed since 1977," shared South Pasadena Fire Chief David Mixson. "For example, the EMS system, the emergency medical service system, as it is today, was not in existence back then. So currently, about 87% of our calls are ems related."
That shift means catering to a fire station to meet EMS needs and having space for supplies and medical equipment restocking.
In the current station, the chief and his team maneuver around some outdated designs. There aren't separate sets of bathrooms for men and women, the roof leaks and there isn't a lot of privacy in the dorms.
"The new station will have an air hawk system to remove diesel particulate, will also now have a bunker gear storage area that is climate-controlled, UV protected, and will allow each firefighter to have two sets of gear," Mixson said. "So if they get one set soiled or contaminated, they can change it to a clean set of gear to be an onsite gear extractor dryer in the station."
With a more central location, this new fire station will shorten response times for emergency calls, specifically, to the south and southeast portions of the city. Response times are expected to be 30 seconds quicker in some areas. While that may not sound drastic, it could save a life.
"I mean, just think about it, hold your breath for a minute, and then try to hold it for 30 more seconds. And it really lets you know that seconds do matter in this line of work," Mixson said.
More than 90 percent of the patients South Pasadena Fire Department helps are transported to HCA Florida Pasadena Hospital.
"In an emergency such as a brain bleed, seconds equal brain cells time equals outcome, not just to survive, but the quality of the outcome of survival. So this investment will improve the outcomes for our community," Brent Burish, the CEO of HCA Florida Pasadena Hospital said.
Now, as firefighters transition into their new building, it's with 18 firefighters working one of three shifts.
"So altogether this is going to be a $10.4 million project that includes a fire station for apparatus bays, administrative facilities, and a classroom or community room. That will also serve as an emergency operation center for the city," Mixson said.
Barring any construction delays, South Pasadena's new state-of-the-art fire station is expected to open on May 13.
Firefighters will soon move out of the existing building. The city will decide if they want to sell or lease out the building.
Malique Rankin is a general assignment reporter with 10 Tampa Bay. You can email her story ideas at mrankin@10tampabay.com and follow her Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages.