New No. 5 fire station unveiled in Saskatoon meant to improve response times | CBC News

Saskatoon Mayor Charlie Clark left the ribbon-cutting scissors behind Tuesday. Instead, he unfastened a long, red hose to unveil the city’s new fire station.

The fire station is on Preston Avenue North, within view of the University of Saskatchewan. It’s strategically located to improve response times, according to Fire Chief Morgan Hackl.

The shiny new station — a 10,000-square foot building with two bays and a cultural space — will send the previous station No. 5, a 56-year-old building on Central Avenue in Sutherland, to retirement.

Hackl said there was overlap between station No. 9 and the old station No. 5 in Sutherland, “so by moving [No. 5] to this location we were able to reduce some of that overlap.”

He also said it would address the university and Varsity View neighbourhood, key areas of concern.

The station is also supposed to keep up with the city’s growing population, who the station will serve “for years and years to come — fire departments racing out of this building to go into an unsafe situation, to go into danger and to try and save people,” Clark said.

That station’s cultural space includes ventilation to allow for smudging ceremonies and has space on the walls to feature artwork made by students from Oskāyak High School.

The room’s design include a central tiled circle with a bright halo above it. The space also doubles as a shared space available to the University of Saskatchewan — which helped bring the station to fruition — and for public bookings.

It’s expected to be fully operational by mid-September 2023.

The older station will be decommissioned. There are not yet plans for the future of the building.