ST. GEORGE — Plans are moving ahead for a new fire station in one of St. George’s southernmost communities thanks to the City Council’s approval of a construction bid on Thursday.
The new fire station, named Station 10, will be built in the Desert Canyons area and cost the city $6.4 million. Watts Construction, which previously built Stations 7 and 9 in Dixie Downs and Little Valley areas respectively, was awarded the bid. It is anticipated that construction will take up to 14 months to complete.
St. George Fire Chief Robert Stoker shared some details about the new station with the City Council and St. George News during a council meeting on Thursday.
Council members also asked the fire chief for an update on brush fires that had occurred earlier that week, as well as what the city may expect with the onset of the fire season.
Station 10
Currently, the Desert Canyons community is covered by Station 8 at SunRiver 5-7 miles away, Stoker said. That distance increases the response time to a potential fire or medical incident and also impacts area home insurance rates. The closer a fire station is, the better response times and insurance rates are for homeowners.
Station 10’s design also will be similar to that of Stations 8 and 9, Stoker said. Station 9 was officially opened in July 2022 as the city’s newest fire station.
The new station will be built on a nearly 3-acre parcel of land in an industrial/commercial part of the Desert Canyons community. The extra space will allow the St. George Fire Department to build a new training tower and provide a place for training that isn’t next door to apartments and small businesses.
“Our current tower is at Station 1 at 51 S. 1000 East,” Stoker said. “When we build our new station downtown we’ll lose that training tower.”
Station 1, which serves as the central station of the Fire Department, sits near Utah Tech University and is surrounded by off-campus student housing, small businesses and nearby residential neighborhoods. As the Fire Department has outgrown the 1000 East location, the city acquired property on 400 East where a new Station 1 will be built – minus the training tower.
“We won’t be disturbing residents with training” at the new location, Stoker said.
Fire season updates
Stoker spoke briefly about fires that occurred by Springs Estates and along Interstate 15 near Furniture Row in St. George earlier last week.
The Spring Estates fire that occurred Tuesday along a stretch of the Virgin River between George Washington Boulevard (1450 South) and Mall Drive burned over 40 acres and was human-caused.
Stoker said the cause of that fire was a controlled burn that a landscaping company left smoldering for a few days before it flared back to life and torched the nearby river bottom. While no injuries or property damage was reported, the blaze came close to several homes and other structures.
The following day a short-lived brush fire burned along I-15 between mile markers 5 and 7. The cause of that blaze was possibly either a cigarette butt thrown from a car or sparks from unsecured chains being dragged behind a passing vehicle.
“Chains are a big issue with RVs and boats and those things,” Stoker said. “They do cause a lot of spot fires along the road.”
Part of the problem is all of the extra plant growth that has come in the wake of a very wet winter and provided additional fuel for potential fires. Some of the spots where new growth has taken hold have grown over foliage that hasn’t burned in a very long time and is knee-deep in some places, Stoker added.
Councilwoman Natalie Larsen asked what the Fire Department was doing to prevent a bad fire season. Stoker said they have worked with St. George News and other local media to spread awareness where possible. Unfortunately, not everyone chooses to read or listen to the Fire Department’s warnings and advisories.
“We still have a few people for whom common sense doesn’t always ring true,” he said. “It’s going to be a busy season.”
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2023, all rights reserved.