On Monday, the City of Sparks announced the closing on land for the new Fire Station 6 in the Pioneer Meadow Business Park, and securing the funding for the project.
The new location is set to serve towards the growth happening in North Sparks, while also helping alleviate the aid needed from Truckee Meadows Fire and Rescue.
“We’ve relied on our relationships with Truckee Meadows to cover us in the North part of Sparks and we needed to do it just the growth out there it warrants Fire Station 6,” said City of Sparks Mayor Ed Lawson.
He went on to say that according to their state demographer the population has grown to 114,000. That's a growth of nearly 6,000 people since 2020.
“We did a response study and identified the best geographic area we could put that station to serve the existing boundary and the projected boundary of our city, so the majority of that district will be in our response ring," said Kevin Jakubos, the Battalion Chief for Sparks Fire.
They've been working on this project since 2018.
The city hopes construction will start in the spring, and from there the project will take 18 months to complete.
Jeff Cronk, the City of Sparks Chief Financial Officer, said they don't know the total cost of the project yet because the project hasn't been formally bid.
However, Cronk explained they have a net bond of proceeds of about $15.9 million they fully expect would cover the cost of the project.
They City said they also have 15 new firefighters in the academy now to help fill the new fire station and alleviate the hours the current firefighters have to work.
