SUFFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — Fire services will soon be improved for people who live in the burgeoning northern Suffolk area as a new station set to open in a few months.
Suffolk Fire Chief Mike Barakey is excited about the new $12 million facility that’ll help serve more residents faster in the Harbor View area. The station broke ground in August 2023.
Fire Station #11 is coming along and is 75% complete, and amazingly, the recent snowstorm didn’t slow them down — coming at a time when crews were already working inside.
“So, this station is 20,000 square feet,” Barakey said. “It’ll actually have an engine, a ladder, a medic, a rescue company and will also have a supervisor vehicle, EMS supervisor.”
They’ve received two grants totaling $9.5 million that will cover the pay for 17 firefighters over the next three years. Those firefighters will come straight from the academy this summer.
“We’ll have the ambulance here,” Barakey said as he gave a tour to 10 On Your Side. “The medic, the engine, the ladder and the rescue will be facing out the front.”
This new facility, he said, will greatly reduce response times. It was a problem identified by city officials three years ago.
“So the closest fire station in north Suffolk right now is Station 5, which is over on Bridge Road on Route 17,” Barakey said, “and to get where we are now, travel time alone is seven minutes.”
And anywhere beyond Harbor View would add another seven minutes. With this facility, that’ll be cut down to as little as two minutes.
Barakey said more than 4,000 of his department’s 21,000 calls a year are in this area of north Suffolk. He can’t wait to better serve the area.
“We have come so far, construction is on schedule [and] the contractors are doing fantastic work in here,” Barakey said.
They’re planning a ribbon cutting in July.