(Fredericksburg, VA) July 10, 2024 – Fredericksburg City Council and the Fredericksburg Fire Department unveiled a new sign that marks the location of the planned new Fire and Rescue Station #3 on Tuesday, July 9, 2024.
City Council unanimously voted on June 25, 2024 on a zoning amendment that enables the City to locate the new Fire Station #3 at Snowden Park. After an exhaustive evaluation of locations, this site was determined to best support the City’s expansion of public safety services. A third station at Snowden Park, located at Fall Hill Avenue and Wicklow Drive, just east of Interstate 95, will provide reduced response times to an area that is most distant from the other two stations and identified for experiencing future development within the next several years. This location will also provide better service to high hazard areas of Celebrate Virginia South and Mary Washington Hospital Campus, as well as provide both resiliency and redundancy to back up the two existing stations anywhere in the City. Lastly, this new station will enable responders to more quickly access Interstate 95 at the new emergency access infrastructure just completed, in partnership with VDOT and the Silver Companies, behind the Virginia Visitor Center.
“What began as a dream and vision has moved forward from that vision to a plan to make this dream a reality,” state Fire Chief Mike Jones, a 40 year veteran with the City of Fredericksburg. “Seconds matter in a life-threatening emergency and response times are the most accurate predictor of outcomes. Enhanced coverage with this third station provides fire and EMS delivery that is critical for our city and supports our department’s goal to provide national best practice standards of coverage.”
Next steps will include design and engineering, which is expected to occur in FY2025. Plans call for the potential of relocating the baseball field, while preserving the community garden and playground in their existing location. Public engagement with surrounding neighborhoods began this past February and will continue throughout the project.
For more information, please visit FredericksburgVA.gov.