PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — Tomorrow marks the push-in ceremony for Pasco Fire Rescue’s first dedicated ladder company. This follows the groundbreaking on Station 38 Monday, the first new fire coverage in the county since 2009 and the first new coverage on the east side of the county since 2007. 

Those are just some of the changes fire officials said they hope will take shape in the coming months and years to help keep up with what they call the county’s “explosive” growth.

  • County growth leading to exponential call volume increase
  • Truck 1 crew using temporary engine until new truck completed
  • Construction expected to take place over 5-year period

“There’s a lot of people moving into Pasco County, a lot of new home construction going on to the point where right now, today, we’re looking at 300 permits being pulled for new residential construction. That’s per month,” said PCFR Fire Chief Scott Cassin.

Cassin said that growth has caused call volume to grow exponentially. Some of the efforts to reduce response times to those calls have already begun.

The forthcoming state-of-the-art Station 38 in Wesley Chapel will cover 10,843 sq. ft. and have four bays, a diesel exhaust capture system, and a new call alerting system. It’s also located in an area of the county that’s seeing a lot of new development.

Meanwhile, on September 19, the designated ladder company, Truck 1, was put into service at Station 30 in New Port Richey. 

“They’re going to be doing some of the jobs that our current firefighters do off of an engine, but they’re going to do them separately from the engine. So the engine will be able to focus strictly on fighting the fire,” Cassin said.

“Initially, it’s going to be hard for us,” said Capt. Darrin Dieters, a paramedic and part of Truck 1’s crew. “We have a ton of training that we need to do to get up to speed on what our specific duties are going to be. Then, hopefully, it will make the team a much more efficient and better firefighting operation.”

Truck 1’s crew is using a temporary engine until a new truck can be completed. That new truck is expected to be in service early next year.

Cassin said there are plans for the creation of two additional designated ladder companies so that the west, east, and center portions of the county each have one.

Voters will also be asked to decide on a general obligation bond in November that could allow for more change. While Station 38 is the first new coverage the county’s seen since 2009, the $70.2 million bond would be used to build four new stations.

Funding would also help rebuild five existing stations and go towards construction of a new training facility and ten new emergency vehicles.

“We’ll be able to decrease the size of our current zones by adding a new station in there. All that’s aimed at reducing our response times because we’re so busy,” Cassin said.

Cassin said construction is expected to take place during a five-year period.