TAMPA, Fla. — Beth Bodai’s neighborhood is in Tampa city limits — but just barely. K-Bar Ranch, a community in New Tampa, is in the far northeast corner of city limits.
“We’re in a strange area where we’re a little bit of Hillsborough County, and we’re also a little bit of the City of Tampa,” she said. “Our community of K-Bar Ranch is growing tremendously. In the past two years, we’ve grown leaps and bounds.”
As the populations in K-Bar Ranch and other neighborhoods of New Tampa grow, Bodai said an existing problem is being exacerbated: fire stations positioned throughout the area are being stretched thinner and thinner.
As a result, Councilman Luis Viera said response times are growing longer.
“According to a recent study that was done by the International Association of Firefighters Local 754, New Tampa has 4 out of the 6 stations in the City of Tampa with the longest response times — all located there within 33647,” he said.
It’s a problem Viera is pushing to fix.
“In this year’s budget, District 7, which is North and New Tampa, got $1 million in Tampa Fire Rescue assistance,” Viera said.
In Thursday’s council meeting, Viera will ask Tampa Fire Chief Barbara Tripp how she plans to use that money to lower response times in New Tampa.
According to an Oct. 24 memo sent to council members, Tripp said Tampa Fire Rescue is currently working with the city’s real estate division to find a site where a new station — Station 24 — can be built.
“Unfortunately, to date, we have not found the ideal location, but we continue exploring options and sites,” Tripp wrote in the memo. “Additional time is requested to locate the best appropriate site.”
According to the budget passed last year, that new station was slated for the “K-Bar Ranch area.” However, Viera couldn't say for sure if that’s still the case or not.
If Station 24 is built outside of New Tampa, Viera said other solutions should be implemented to improve fire protection in New Tampa. New trucks and staff could be added to the area’s existing stations, for instance.
“My big issue when you take a look at New Tampa is to get those response times in order,” Viera said.
According to Tripp’s memo, Tampa Fire Rescue also needs additional time to address the New Tampa response times. However, the department has identified “areas of improvement.”
“(Tampa Fire Rescue) is working with the Mobility Department to review access to areas in New Tampa,” Tripp wrote. "(Tampa Fire Rescue) has plans to increase the appropriate resources needed in New Tampa in an effort to decrease the response times.”
Viera, meanwhile, said he intends to re-invite Tripp and Tampa Fire Rescue to future council meetings for periodic updates until a concrete plan is presented and implemented.
“If they need more time to look at real estate, if they need more time to do studies, let’s give them more time," he said. "But let’s set a time because that’s very important. Again, I find in government a lot of times, if you don’t put time limits, then you run into problems."
To Viera and neighbors like Bodai, time is of the essence.
“Our response time is over 15 minutes in this area, and in order to get that time cut in half for not just my community of K-Bar but also for the six other neighboring communities, we’d like to see something closer,” Bodai said.
Last year, Viera and others also pushed the City of Tampa to add a new station in the North Tampa area because of a high volume of calls at Station 13, which is located near Busch Gardens. In Aug. 2022, Station 25 opened nearby, and according to Tripp’s memo, the new station is already producing results.
“Early data shows that the addition of Station 25 is greatly assisting with the call volume in the North Tampa area,” she wrote.
