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Bokeelia Station #3 to be dedicated Jan. 24

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MARIANNE PATON islanders are encouraged to turn out to celebrate the grand opening and dedication of Station #3 in Bokeelia on Saturday, Jan. 24.

At long last, the Bokeelia fire station will be dedicated Saturday, Jan. 24. All Pine Island residents are encouraged to attend a special ceremony that will take place at Station #3 at 14861 Stringfellow Rd., in Bokeelia, beginning at 10:30 a.m.

The grand opening of the new station will include a dedication ceremony to honor former Matlacha-Pine Island Fire Chief Marty Slater, who’s now deceased. A plaque depicting Slater’s image will be placed on the outside of the building to honor his memory. Also present for the dedication ceremony will be the wife and family of Slater who, before he passed, had been informed that the station would be dedicated to him by the fire commissioners.

According to Fire Auxiliary President Jeanne Adams, members of the auxiliary will be on hand to provided guided tours of the new facility, and Lodge Construction, the builders of the project, will provide food and beverages.

“It’s been a long time coming and it is my hope that everyone, whether they approved of the station or not, will come out as we can all be extremely proud of this facility,” said Fire Commissioner Ken Cox. “This has truly been a community effort on the part of both the present and past commissioners who made this happen. It has been over a year in getting here and people need to see not only how large this facility is, but more importantly, how up-to-date and modern it is.”

Former fire commissioner and chair Elsie Stearns was among the first commissioners to address the need of a permanent fire station located in Bokeelia.

“This has been a long time coming and I am very excited. This was a real community effort and so many people have contributed in so many different ways,” said Stearns. “My whole feeling during the entire process was that the north end of the island was not receiving the same service as the center and the south end. I am glad that the community came together and recognized that building a station in Bokeelia would benefit the entire island because every time you take equipment and emergency responders to the north end, it leaves the other areas vulnerable. Now all of us will have the same level of response times and insurance benefits, and I am really looking forward to the building of the Matlacha station as well.”

The state-of-the-art facility has three drive-through bays, a decontamination area, meeting room, exercise room and living quarters for the firefighters who will man the station. In addition, the property contains a large pond which will be used for training purposes for all firefighters in the Matlacha-Pine Island Fire Control District.