Charlotte County begins construction on two new fire stations

CHARLOTTE COUNTY, Fla. —

Charlotte County is breaking ground on two new fire stations to improve emergency response times and meet the needs of local communities.

One of the stations, Fire and EMS Station 17, will be built in the Tuckers Grade community off U.S. 41, marking the first new fire station in the county in 20 years. Charlotte County Fire Chief Matthew McElroy highlighted the importance of the new facility.

"So for us, it's an extra rescue. It's an extra fire truck. It's an extra ladder truck for this area. The response times to here are incredibly, can be incredibly longer than what we would like. So this is going to cut those response times in half to our, to our further south, station in the county," McElroy said.

Station 17 is expected to be completed by March 2027 and will cost over $11 million.

On Thursday, the county plans to break ground on the second new fire station in the Cleveland community east of Punta Gorda.

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