Description
In St. Pete Beach, commissioners are giving the green light to demolish one of its two fire stations, but there's no concrete funding.
The St. Pete Beach Fire chief Jim Kilpatrick said last year's storms heavily damaged this already aging fire station.
“lt's exceeded the 50 percent rule for FEMA,” Chief Kilpatrick said.
He said it's time for a new one and it's going to cost about $12 million.
The St. Pete beach firefighters moved into a temporary shelter after the storms. Chief Jim Kilpatrick said it's important to keep crews in the Pass-a-Grille area.
“That station is needed in this area for the community and the response times that we need to meet,” Chief Kilpatrick said.
Despite being displaced, he sees a silver lining.
“The current roof height does not meet the needs of our apparatus. We can't fit our apparatus there. There's some funding options available based on the catastrophic events we went through with Milton and Helene. There's some opportunities for grants that are competitive,” Kilpatrick said.
But, some neighbors aren't on board.