St. Cloud’s newest fire station started serving the east side of town Thursday.
Fire Station 34, located on Nora Tyson Road east of Narcoossee Road, should cause response times to decrease on the east side of St. Cloud, Chief Jason Miller said, because crews were previously running out of downtown Stations 32 three and a half miles away.
“St. Cloud has experienced exponential growth over the past several years,” Mayor Nathan Blackwell said, “much like the rest of Central Florida. At the city, we’re making sure that we are planning for growth so that we can serve our residents and provide resources such as parks, recreational activities, and of course, most of all, for public safety.”
The new station, which cost $1.6 million, plus another almost $1 million worth of apparatus and equipment, will be staffed by 18 personnel. Miller said the next station planned for the department will be in the Tohoqua area off Neptune Road. Shortly after that, there are plans to rebuild Station 32. After the uncoupling ceremony—the fire department’s version of a ribbon cutting—a traditional “wet-down/ pushback” ceremony was held to christen new Engine 34 by dousing it with water from a fire hose.
Once attendees had dried the engine, it was pushed back into its bay. The pushback tradition dates to the 1800’s, when fire stations used horse-drawn equipment. When crews returned from a call, they detached the horses from the equipment and pushed the equipment into the bay.
As Engine 34 was settled into the bay, the station’s radio sounded an alarm. In the silence that followed, a dispatcher announced: “St. Cloud to all stations and units: Fire Station 34 is now in service to protect the residents and visitors of the City of St. Cloud.”
