Pasco Breaks Ground On 1st Fire Station To Reduce Cancer Risks

LAND O' LAKES, FL — Pasco County Fire Rescue will hold a groundbreaking ceremony for Fire Station 9, the first in Tampa Bay to be specially designed to reduce cancer risks for firefighters.

The program will be held on Tuesday, April 27, at 9 a.m.

Located at 11425 Silver Palm Blvd. in Land O' Lakes, Station 9 is a 16,046-square-foot state-of-the-art four-bay fire station with features to protect the health of firefighters.

It's the first fire station in Pasco County to feature a hot, warm and cold zone design aimed at reducing firefighter cancer rates. The zones allow firefighters to clean carcinogens off their bodies before they enter the living quarters of the fire station.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health recently undertook two large studies focused on firefighter cancer and concluded that firefighters face a 9 percent increase in cancer diagnoses,and a 14 percent increase in cancer-related deaths, compared to the general population in the U.S., due to the contaminants they're exposed to while fighting fires.

The station also has larger bays to accommodate specialty apparatus, a built-in 16-member training classroom to support multi-station training, a flex room to house additional firefighters during a major emergency and an advanced station alert system aimed at improving firefighter health and wellness.

This station will also house the county's specially designed decontamination and rehabilitation units.

The groundbreaking marks the first new station to be paid for by the General Obligation Bond for Pasco County Fire Rescue. A General Obligation Bond is a municipal bond backed solely by the credit and taxing power of the issuing jurisdiction rather than revenue from a given project.