A rendering of Bellevue Fire Station 10 planned for downtown. A groundbreaking ceremony for the project is planned Wednesday.
Bellevue is about to begin work on its first new fire station in 29 years. The city has chosen a downtown location to improve response times there and in BelRed, Bellevue officials said Thursday in a news item posted on its website.
Fire Station 10 will be at the corner of Northeast 12th Street and 112th Avenue Northeast, just north of McCormick Park. The $32 million, two-story building will be about 20,000 square feet with three drive-through bays for fire engines and other apparatus.
Completion is targeted for spring 2025.
The community is invited to a groundbreaking celebration at the site at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday. Construction could begin later this month or early April, the City said.
“Fire Station 10 will improve response times for fire and medical emergencies in those areas, where the growing number of high-rise structures include ‘vertical response time’ to upper floors,” according to a separate post on the station’s design.
High-rises going up in the area make it harder for firefighters to respond to calls within the targeted four minutes and traffic congestion, other incidents, and the time required to move staff and equipment up many floors can slow response, the city added. Engine 110, Aid 101, Medic 101, and Battalion 101 will be posted at the station.
Today, downtown, Northtowne, Wilburton, and West Bellevue are served by fire stations in Clyde Hill, West Bellevue and BelRed, it said.
Fire Station 10 project features include solar and groundwater heating and cooling, restoration of a wetland on the property, significant tres preservation, plus new trees to screen the station from nearby houses. It also will feature a publicly accessed training classroom and gallery entry featuring artifacts from Bellevue Fire's history. A video walkthrough of the planned station is here.
Earlier this month, Bellevue also announced it’s purchasing an electric fire engine that will be based at Fire Station 1, at 766 Bellevue Way S.E. Delivery of the new rig is anticipated in 2025-26.