Long-delayed Inglewood fire hall a ‘need’: Calgary firefighters union

Calgary firefighters are again sounding the alarm about a fire hall in Inglewood. Despite being planned for years, the project is on pause.

Calgary firefighters are again sounding the alarm and urging the city to move ahead with a long-awaited fire hall in Inglewood.

The city has owned the plot of land at the corner of 11th Avenue and 12th Street S.E. for 15 years, and a plan to build a mixed-use fire hall was approved by council in 2020.

A sign promising the new station is now neglected and overgrown with foliage, and the project is on pause.

“We’re not talking about a new fire hall in the suburbs; this is a critical piece of infrastructure in the centre of the city,” said Jamie Blayney, president of the Calgary Firefighters Association.

“Inglewood is a thriving community, and we need the tools and resources to do our job.”

The intention is to build the fire hall as part of a facility that would see retail at the ground level and housing above the station.

Similar projects have been completed recently in Calgary or are underway, but they are all being delivered by the city alone.

With the Inglewood station, the city is seeking a private partner to develop and own the housing and retail components.

“We have been working with a private developer to advance the project—owning the housing component while we were looking at the fire component—and, really, some complexities in how the deal is structured limited their ability to move forward,” said Ryan Meier, manager of facility planning for the city.

Those complexities have kept construction from starting, and city officials will now go back to council with alternative options for the fire hall in order to move forward, Meier said.

“All potential options will be on the table, from looking for a new partner to developing the project ourselves,” Meier said.

‘Seconds count’: firefighters association

Inglewood and the communities nearby are mostly served by the downtown fire hall, but the aging building was constructed in 1973 and has reached the end of its life cycle.

Money has been in the city’s budget to replace the old station for years.

“It puts a strain on the neighbouring districts. So then we’re pulling valuable resources from the downtown area to service our community, when there should be a fire hall in that community,” Blayney said.

“Our call volumes have doubled since 2020. So it’s just such a needed piece inside the city to help firefighters do their job. Seconds count in emergencies, and we just need to have that available to the citizens.”

The city says alternative options for the new fire hall will be presented to city councillors by the end of the year.