Fire stations across Sarasota County are being replaced with bigger and better ones.
“We are in the process of tearing down the Siesta Key Fire Station,” said Sarasota County Fire Chief Michael Regnier.
That’s Fire Station 13 on 1170 Beach Road, Sarasota. Chief Regnier said this station had been here since 1974. "This Fire Station is at end of life,” Regnier said. “It's served very well but we need to have a new fire station for this location." This fire station is being replaced with a two-story storm ready facility.
"If a category four or five storm comes through here this building will remain here and we'll be able to respond to the community,” Regnier said.
Construction will start this summer and it take about a year to finish. It's costing right around $5.5 million. "For the entire county we have a bunch of storm ready fire stations, not all of them but we are working towards that,” Regnier said.