Construction crews are steadily making progress on Marion County Fire Rescue’s new Emergency Medical Services (EMS) station.
Located at 1400 SW 6th Avenue in Ocala, MCFR’s EMS Central station is an upgrade to their previous facility, which was built in 1960.
According to Marion County Public Relations, the upcoming EMS facility has been “years in the making.” This new location will provide easy access to the central and western areas of Ocala, as well as urban service areas outside of the city.
Since the groundbreaking ceremony in October 2023, Dinkins Construction’s crew members have been hard at work as the EMS Central facility takes shape.
In a social media post on January 12, 2024, MCFR shared an aerial photo of the EMS Central station’s construction site.
“Dinkins Construction is doing such a great job. We can’t wait to see (the) finished product!!!!” stated MCFR in the post.
Once completed, the new EMS Central facility will include:
- Apparatus bays to protect a dozen units from weather.
- Separate sleeping areas for nine crew members, the captain, and the battalion chief.
- Four restrooms with showers.
- A physical training room allowing for exercise equipment and other opportunities to improve employee health.
- Two dayroom areas where crews will be able to relax when not responding to incidents.
- A large kitchen and dining areas, allowing for crews to cook meals and eat together as an overall station.
- An option for a large training room with separate bathrooms to allow for crew training and other meetings to take place.
According to MCFR, units from the current station responded to a total of 18,186 incidents during Fiscal Year 2021-2022.
The funding for the EMS Central facility has been allocated through the Penny Sales Tax Initiative.