Wrenhaven's first new fire station in a quarter of a century opened at Bramley Cross on Monday, bringing two fire engines and a technical rescue unit closer to the fast-growing northern edge of the city. The service says average response times in Northfield and Bramley Cross are expected to fall from just over nine minutes to under six.
The station, on the site of a former bus depot on Coldharbour Lane, cost €11.4 million and took 20 months to build. It replaces the old Harbourside station, which dated from the 1930s and was too small to house modern appliances. Crews have moved across over the past fortnight, with the first call from the new base, a kitchen fire in a block of flats, coming within hours of the switch.
Chief Fire Officer Hamish Gilchrist said population growth in the north of the city had made the move necessary. Around 6,000 new homes have been built in Northfield and Bramley Cross over the past decade, while the old station sat close to the harbour, where demand had fallen as warehouses were converted.
In a house fire, every minute matters. Getting there three minutes sooner can be the difference between a damaged room and a lost home.
Built for training and the community
The building includes a six-storey training tower, a smoke house where crews can practise searches in darkness, and a yard large enough to rehearse road traffic rescues with scrap cars. A community room on the ground floor will be used for first aid courses, school visits and home fire safety sessions, and local groups will be able to book it free of charge in the evenings.
Solar panels on the roof and a rainwater tank used to fill the engines are expected to cut running costs. The service also plans to keep a small number of firefighters at a smaller retained post in Harbourside so that cover near the waterfront is not reduced.
Residents are invited to an open day at the station on Saturday, when children will be able to sit in a fire engine and families can learn how to test smoke alarms. The service is reminding households to check their alarms monthly as the evenings draw in and heating goes on.