The Saskatoon Fire Department will soon break ground on a new state-of-the-art fire station to replace the aging Fire Hall No. 5 located on Central Avenue in Sutherland.

The new fire hall will be built on University of Saskatchewan land along Preston Avenue near 108th Street.

Peter Stoicheff, President of the University of Saskatchewan, Fire Chief Morgan Hackl, and special guests gathered at the existing Fire Station No. 5 Thursday to mark the start of the fire station.

Stoicheff says “The establishment of this new fire station is the latest development in the successful co-operation and collaboration between the City and the university and reinforces our commitment to community.”

Fire Chief Morgan Hackl says the new location comes after a review of the fire department’s operations in 2014 that led to the development of a new service model to improve service travel times across Saskatoon.

With the relocation of Fire Hall No. 5 and the relocation of Fire Hall No. 3 in 2018, a tenth fire station that was previously earmarked for Stonebridge will no-longer be needed, saving the City of Saskatoon $6 million dollars in construction costs and $3 million every year in operating costs.

The new station will include a shared cultural room for drop-in use by the U of S, civic departments, local community groups and fire department staff.

The price tag associated with the new fire hall is $6.8 million dollars. It’s expected the new station will be ready in the middle of 2023.

The fire hall will serve the university along with the College Park, Greystone, Grosvenor Park, Varsity View, Sutherland, Forest Grove and Sutherland Industrial areas.

The current number 5 station on Central Avenue has been in use since 1966.