New Regina fire station to be built in Arcola East neighbourhood

The City of Regina has settled on a location for its newest fire station.

Fire Station No. 8 will be built on a vacant two-acre lot at the corner of Chuka Boulevard and Primrose Green Drive in the Arcola East neighbourhood. The city has purchased the lot.

The location was selected after consultations with stakeholders and residents of the area.

“One of our focuses with Fire Station No. 8 is to bring value to the neighbourhood we will be situated in, as we do in all areas of Regina,” Fire Chief Layne Jackson said in a media release.

“In addition to providing emergency response, a fire station is a community hub in a lot of ways. Through fire station tours and other events that welcome citizens into the station, fire safety programming and community partnerships that strengthen our services, we work to benefit the community around the station and throughout Regina.”

Now that the land has been purchased, the next step of planning, development and resourcing is to happen in 2023 and ’24. Construction is to begin in 2025, with the station to open in 2026.

“Until the new Fire Station No. 8 is operational, (Regina and Fire Protective Services) will continue to mitigate risk in the community through multiple programs such as traffic signal pre-emption, which allows a fire truck to change traffic lights in a way that clears traffic in their path to allow quicker response,” the release said.

The release noted plans will be made for additional stations that will match community growth over time.

According to the city, the Regina fire department hasn’t added a new station since 2001. The last replacement station built was Fire Station No. 4 on Dewdney Avenue in 2010, which replaced an older station that was decommissioned when the new one opened.