SARASOTA, Fla. — It's a grand opening one year in the making. On Friday, Sarasota County leaders celebrated the opening of the brand new Fire Station 9.
Located on Bee Ridge Road, the new 10,500-square-foot state-of-the-art facility is a three-bay station built to withstand Category 4 hurricane winds.
"We have to house our personnel for 24 hours and withstand the storms," said Sarasota County Acting Fire Chief Michael Hartley.
"We're in place and ready to go with our operation for post-storm recovery so our firefighters being on location, ready for release right after the emergency, is really important for us," he added.
According to county leaders, Station 9 was originally built in the 1970s but was demolished in April 2021 for renovations.