A Mesa fire station built for future expansion opened recently in the community of Eastmark.
The $5.9 million Fire Station No. 221 was funded from a 2018 public safety bond approved by Mesa voters.
“This really is a fantastic fire station; it’s really a model that we’d like to continue to see replicated throughout our community,” Mesa City Manager Chris Brady said Nov. 18 prior to a fire-hose uncoupling ceremony marking the opening of the station.
“(T)here’s a lot of growth happening in this part of town,” he said. “We don’t just plop down fire stations just randomly. There’s a very strategic process that goes in place, and we believe this location will serve us well.”
The Mesa Fire and Medical Department station is at 9320 E. Point Twenty-Two Blvd., just east of Ellsworth Road.
“It’s such an impressive facility. This fire station is a much-needed asset for southeast Mesa,” said District 6 Councilmember Kevin Thompson. “Our response times are going to be significantly reduced by having this station right here in the community, and it’s not very often you see a fire station that’s built into a community — they’re typically on your major roadways; with the traffic noise and so forth they blend in. But here we are today right smack in the middle of Eastmark and Cadence and we’re able to serve ... the surrounding communities as well, especially a lot of the traffic accidents that happen out on Ellsworth Road.”
The fire station has four apparatus bays, eight dormitories, two offices, a kitchen, dining room, conditioning room and a community room. It will be home to an all-electric pumper truck, which can pump four hose lines at 750 gallons per minute for four hours on a single charge.
“It’s a state-of-the-art fire station that incorporates best practices and lessons learned from across the industry, and we’re excited to have this opened. But this station wasn’t designed for day one; this station is designed for the next 50 years,” said John Locklin, assistant fire chief. “Today we have an engine and an ambulance that runs out of this station and that’s going to enhance our ability to respond quickly to any emergency in the Eastmark community and the surrounding area. And has been mentioned, this is a dynamic area that is growing rapidly and this fire station was designed to meet the growth needs of the area,” he said.
“Thank you so much to everyone who made this possible. This facility is going to have an impact for generations in our community,” Mesa Mayor John Giles said. “(W)hen people look back at this generations from now they’re going to say ‘Wow. Whoever designed and built that fire station was really smart, because it’s just as good and just as functional today as it was the day it opened.’”
Richard Dyer Managing Editor | East Valley @RHDyer
Meet Richard Richard Dyer has worked at Independent Newsmedia Inc. USA since 1987, starting his career in Apache Junction as a copy editor and being promoted over the years to work as the editor of the Mesa Independent, news services editor for the East Valley office in Apache Junction, managing editor for the East Valley office, news services editor for the East Valley office and eventually also for the newspapers at INI’s then-Chandler office, managing editor again and as a news editor covering Apache Junction/Gold Canyon and Queen Creek. He helped start the Florence Independent while the news editor covering Apache Junction and Mesa news. In January 2023, he became associate managing editor for the East Valley newspapers and in August 2023 became managing editor for the East Valley newspapers of Chandler/Tempe, Gilbert, Queen Creek, Florence, Mesa and Apache Junction/Gold Canyon, while also reporting on Mesa and Apache Junction/Gold Canyon.
Community: Since 2009, he has worked as a volunteer to design The Blue Guitar Magazine, Blue Guitar Jr. magazine and Unstrung magazine, which are projects of The Arizona Consortium for the Arts; and since 2014, has been overseeing the art submissions.
Education: University of Arizona with a master of arts in journalism and a bachelor of science in agricultural communication. Also continuing education at Mesa Community College in welding in a metal art sculpture class.
Random fact: Saw his first tornado on May 31, 2010, which was classified as an EF-2, as part of a stormchasing tour group.
Hobbies: He is an artist of welded-steel sculptures, selling his artwork at juried and non-juried art shows.
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