Harrisonburg fire, city officials to break ground on new station next week

A ground-breaking ceremony will be held next week for a new fire station in the City of Harrisonburg.

Fire Department Station 5 will be located at 450 Mount Clinton Pike.

The event will take place on Tuesday, July 30, at 9 a.m. at the future site of the station.

City and Harrisonburg Fire Department leaders will take part in the ceremony.

The project should be complete next summer.

“Our fire department does an incredible job for the people of Harrisonburg – not only when it comes to responding to emergencies, but in how they engage with our community members and represent our city on the state and national stage,” said Mayor Deanna Reed. “This fifth fire station will help make sure everyone in our community always has life-saving support just a short distance away.”

The long-awaited station is expected to improve safety and reduce response times, especially in the northern end of Harrisonburg. The goal is to reduce average response times from six minutes to four.

The new station will improve service to the Park View area that includes the Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community, Eastern Mennonite University, several public and private K-12 schools and a developing commercial district. The closest station currently is Station 4 (located on Rock Street).

Reduction of response times also will help to reduce insurance rates across the entire city.

Harrisonburg City Council has committed $5 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds to the project.

“HFD has established a goal of achieving a four-minute response time to all critical life-threatening emergencies in our community at least 90 percent of the time, and this new station will go a long way toward making that happen,” said HFD Chief Matthew Tobia. “We are very grateful to the Harrisonburg City Council for their support of this project and of the women and men of the Harrisonburg Fire Department.”