EVERETT — Many residents east of Everett will soon have a fire station closer to their homes, which will mean quicker response times.
Snohomish County Fire District 1 plans to build a new fire station at 35th Avenue SE and 108th Street SE to replace a station near Silver Lake in Everett. Construction is set to begin this spring, and the new station is scheduled to open in January 2005.
The fire district wants to move the station because the Silver Lake station on 19th Avenue SE at 120th Place SE is within the Everett city limits. When the station was built in 1953, the area around it was unincorporated. Everett annexed the area in the 1980s.
The Silver Lake station covers several unincorporated neighborhoods south and east of Everett, including Hilton Lake, Pioneer Trails and Eastmont.
The new station, which will be about a mile northeast, will be closer to most residents who are served by the station, said Leslie Hynes, fire district spokeswoman. However, some residents who live directly southeast of the Silver Lake station may have longer response times once the new station is built, she said.
Fire District 1 also is worried that a state Department of Transportation project to widen 19th Avenue SE will bring the road up to the station’s garage doors.
"That would create a major safety issue for trucks going in and out," Hynes said. "They’d be pulling in and out into traffic on a major highway."
The construction project, which will widen 19th Avenue SE from two to five lanes, including a turn lane, will eat up 9 feet of the fire station’s frontage, she said.
The $2 million that the fire district estimates the new station will cost is coming from a $19.3 million bond issue approved by voters in 2002, Hynes said.
Like the current station, the new 10,000-square-foot building will have two bays, for one engine company and one medic unit. The building, which will be constructed on a 3-acre wooded site, will also have sleeping quarters and a meeting room for 30 people.
There are six stations in Fire District 1, which covers 37 square miles.
Reporter David Olson: 425-339-3452 or dolson@heraldnet.com .
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