New fire station opens on Jacksonville's Southside

JACKSONVILLE, Fla – A new fire station opened its doors on Monday morning in an area of the city's Southside, which is arguably one of the fastest-growing areas of Jacksonville.

Fire Station #63, located on Gate Parkway near J. Turner Butler Boulevard and Interstate 295, is a temporary station staffed by crews highly trained in technical resources. 

It’s a temporary fix until a permanent station is complete.

The Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department first made the announcement about the fire station during a news conference on Thursday. Monday marked the temporary station's first day in service.

It will service 30 apartment complexes and 153 businesses. More than 3,700 residents in the area will also see a decrease in fire casualty insurance rates.

A few business owners in the area told News4Jax on Monday that they were happy about having a fire station just up the street from them.

A News4Jax I-TEAM investigation three years ago found that response times were a point of concern on the Southside. The I-TEAM plotted Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department engine response times to nearly 23,000 calls made to 911 during a six-week period in 2016 on a map and discovered that engine companies took longer to respond to 911 calls on the Southside of Jacksonville. More than 50% of the time, it took longer than six minutes for paramedics at Fire stations 44 and 50 to get to an emergency, the I-TEAM discovered. 

During last week's news conference, a spokesperson talked about other fire stations, some of which are in the works.

Fire Station #61 is under construction in Oakleaf Plantation. It's scheduled to open in February 2020.

Fire Station #65 will be located in the Century 21 area of town. Construction was expected to begin soon.

Fire Station #73 recently opened at Cecil Commerce.