SOUTH MARCH – Ottawa Fire Service (OFS) Station 45 will begin the relocation process in the New Year to address the growing development and higher population east of West Carleton’s borders.

The project is part of the 2020 City of Ottawa budget at a cost of $9.5 million. City staff are interested in a piece of farmland south of St. Isidore Catholic Elementary School on March Road which is about two kilometres east of Station 45’s current location at 640 Cameron Harvey Dr.

City staff hope to purchase the land this year with the goal of beginning construction in the third or fourth quarter of the year and opening the new station in 2021 or 2022. With funding secured in the 2020 budget, staff can begin negotiations for the purchase of the land. It is expected city staff will have to budget more funding in the 2021 budget to complete the project.

OFS identified the need for a new station in Kanata North back in 2015. At that time the OFS also identified the need for new stations in Orleans south and Cyrville.

One of the reasons OFS proposed the location change was to improve the flexibility of the full-time firefighters based at the station and allow them to better support the growing community as well as full-time firefighters in Stittsville and Kanata. The new station, much like Station 45, is a composite station with both full-time firefighters and volunteer firefighters based out of the hall.

OFS fire Chief Kim Ayotte says the station will be closer to areas with greater risk. The new station will be much closer to three new, huge developments announced last March that are planning nearly 1,700 new residential units along March Road including 750 detached homes, 715 town homes and 216 multi-unit residential dwellings over the next couple of years. The development of a new fire station was mentioned in the plans for the new construction. Over the next 10 years it is expected an estimated 3,500 new residential units will be built in the Kanata North area which could house around 8,5000 residents.

City planners estimate the population for the Kanata-Stittsville area could rise by nearly 40,000 people over the next 15 years.

The new station is expected to have three drive-through bays and will be equipped with a new pumper truck for the full-time team as well as an existing tanker truck and a passenger van for the rural firefighters.