RIVERVIEW, Fla. — Hillsborough County tax payer money is being used to keep residents safe through a new fire station in Riverview.
Station 46 is part of the county's master plan to add more buildings across the area to keep up with the growing population.
Located along Rhodine Road, the station will be the second busiest in the county.
Hillsborough County Deputy Fire Chief Jason Dougherty said Station 46 will offer needed resources in the area and help alleviate the work load from neighboring stations.
"This will help the citizens in the southern Hillsborough County tremendously by providing emergency medical services and fire suppression activities," Dougherty said.
Fire station 46 is expected to break ground in June. Unlike typical fire station projects in the past, personnel is already on standby and the apparatuses have been purchased.
It will sit between Station 16 and Station 3.
Dougherty said its location could be key to cutting response times in half.
"Our goal is to get to a seven minute response time for all of Hillsborough County," Dougherty said.
The new station will house an ambulance, ladder truck, and a tanker and will be one of a kind with a clean station which will give crews an area to decontaminate post fire.
This will help eliminate possible carcinogen contamination to the crews and people inside the building.
The project comes with a $5 million price tag, but Dougherty said it's worth every cent.
"It does come with a price tag but there is no dollar value I can put on a persons life," Dougherty said.
