St. Cloud breaks ground on Fire Station 34 on Nora Tyson

By the end of 2023, the St. Cloud Fire Department hopes to serve residents on the east side of the county in a quicker and better fashion.

The city ceremoniously broke ground Friday on Fire Station 34 on Nora Tyson Road, just east of Narcoossee Road and north of U.S. Highway 192.

City officials said the bulk of the $1.58 million project will be a pre-fab modular building, so it should be ready to go by the end of December.

The station, which will include both engine and rescue units, will serve the Narcoossee and Nova Road areas. Currently, they are served by a doubled-up crew at Station 31, which is in downtown St. Cloud and results in response times that are higher than what Fire Chief Jason Miller would prefer.

“As the city grew in the 2000s, we grew fast to the east rapidly. This station will help those areas. Being closer to those areas helps everyone drastically,” he said.

“We currently have two fire station personnel, two engines, two rescues working out of one station (31). They’re crammed in there like cord wood.”

This station has been in the works for over 15 years, Miller said. But the Great Recession halted plans then. “It took a long time to recover from that.”

The city is also planning upgrades to Stations 31 and 32 on Old Canoe Creek Road. Ground also recently just broke on the department’s new training facility just south of the city. When Station 34, and the future Station 35 in Tohoqua, open, the city will have five fire stations, a need in a city that Mayor Nathan Blackwell said has been experiencing rapid growth.

“The City Council has been diligently working to make strategic additions to our public safety infrastructure, like this station,” he said. “This station will allow us to better protect our citizens. I’m confident it will make St. Cloud a safer place to live, work and raise a family.”