City officials eye new fire station, London’s first in 12 years, in booming area
Jennifer Bieman London Free Press
City officials are charging ahead on plans for a new fire hall in London’s southeast, a long-awaited project in a booming area of residential and industrial development.
Acting fire chief Richard Hayes talks Tuesday about the rapid growth in the southeast corner of London near Hamilton Road and Commissioners Road. The city will be building a new fire station on Old Victoria Road. (Mike Hensen/The London Free Press)
City officials are charging ahead on plans for a new fire hall in London’s southeast, a long-awaited project in a booming area of residential and industrial development.
City hall began working with consultants in the fall with the goal to have the new fire hall, near Hamilton Road and Commissioners Road East, built and operating in mid- to late 2025, a city hall spokesperson said.
“It’s pretty exciting for us. We’re looking forward to the service level that it will bring and taking some pressure off the responding stations in that area,” acting fire chief Richard Hayes said Tuesday.
Officials had been eyeing a fifteenth fire hall in the southeast as far back as 2018. At the time, officials were considering a 0.68-hectare parcel at a city-owned industrial park near Hamilton and Old Victoria roads for the new station. The city had wanted the new fire hall operational by 2022.
Pandemic-related issues, including sourcing contractors and supplies, and other delays have slowed the process, city hall officials said.
The fire department has a parcel picked out on the southeast corner of Hamilton and Commissioners roads, Hayes said. The new fire hall will mean more firefighters, a recruitment process that is already underway, he said.
“We’ve already started the hiring process. What you don’t want is to open a station and have a whole bunch of new people start all at once,” Hayes said. “Plus, there’s an attrition bubble that we’re hitting right now as well. . . . There seem to be quite a lot of people retiring at this point, so we’re trying to manage that as well.”
New Station for Southeast of the city
Acting fire chief Richard Hayes says the department is excited it will get an added station in southeast London because it will take the pressure off other stations in the area as that part of the city grows with residential and industrial development. (Mike Hensen/The London Free Press)
The southeast end of the city has had significant residential development in recent years, particularly west of the Hamilton and Commissioners roads intersection, and the rapid expansion of industrial sites around Veterans Memorial Parkway and the Hwy. 401.
Ward 14 Coun. Steve Hillier said the new station will include special equipment to fight fires in industrial areas.
“There are three new factories being built out there as we speak,” Hillier said Monday, adding “it’s about time” that area of the city got a new fire hall after years of pandemic-related delays.
A request for qualifications document issued by city hall in September said the station will, at minimum, be a single-storey building with two garage bays and include dormitory space for up to five firefighters and one captain, a fitness room, common areas, kitchen and other amenities.
The nearest fire halls to the southeast corner of the city are station 10, near Bonaventure Drive in the Argyle neighbourhood, and station 5 on Deveron Crescent in Pond Mills.
Station 10 is about six kilometres, or an eight-minute drive, from the Hamilton and Commissioners intersection. Station 5 is about five km, or a five-minute drive, away.
“The increase of population in the area is making the other stations nearby exponentially busier, not to mention the increased traffic on the highway. We’re finding ourselves out there quite a bit too,” Hayes said.
The consultant to oversee the project will be chosen this spring, Hayes said.
