FLEMING ISLAND— When it comes to Clay County Fire Rescue, efficient response times are always equivalent to better outcomes.  

And the clock is always ticking. 

“The faster we can get to people, the better we’re going to have interventions,” said Fire Chief Lorin Mock. 

With six new fire stations coming down the pipeline, the county is continuing to refine its adeptness when it comes to answering the emergencies of those in need. 

And Station 22 on Fleming Island, Mock said, was at the top of the to-do list. The building and services on Pine Avenue will soon move to Arena Road. The fresh paint and brand-new exterior are almost complete on the $12.7 million modern-day facility. 

“We are hopeful 22 is in service before the end of this calendar year,” Mock said. 

The station, along with Station 1 in Middleburg, was a part of the county’s Bonded Transportation project and resulted from a $65 million bond appropriated back in 2024.  

But the vision, Mock said, is nearly 30 years in the making. 

In 1998, the county bought the property on Arena Road with the hope of moving the station to a more centralized point. With the current station sitting on the river, Mock said its full-service range only reaches half of a full 360-degree service. 

That’s why it was imperative to make the long-awaited move. 

“It made sense where it was on Pine Avenue because when the station was first put into service, it was a volunteer station,” Mock said. “And the volunteers had to live in the neighborhood.” 

Transitioning into more than 16,000 square-feet, more than double the size of its predecessor, the new facility will include 7,000 square feet of apparatus bay and storage, while the rest will be living quarters for 20 firemen. 

While its many new features include a multi-bay station for up to 10 pieces of equipment and a large kitchen area, another new addition, Mock said, is its intentional design. Unlike earlier fire station models, the areas will be better separated from the crew for enhanced safety. 

“We want to begin to isolate the vehicles away from the people. There are carcinogens that are part of the diesels, the engines and things. So, this basically isolates the two areas.” 

That’s why they also added laundry rooms, so fire men will be able to wash protective and personal gear without taking any contaminates home with them, among other things. 

“These are really now living quarters where you would be more familiar in a home environment, individual bunk spaces for the crews so when there are calls, not everybody has to get up. Only the people that the call is specific to.” 

A centralized, modern station, Mock added, will help to improve the department’s overall response times. The added enhancements will also help to deliver more effective service to residents in the area, especially with a growing population. 

When Mock started working in Clay County the population was about 190,000. That number has now reached almost 240,000. And in the last 10 years alone, Mock said Fire Rescue service calls have increased by 55%. 

“If you think about the places where they tend to go to, some of those they’re more of the assisted living facilities where we have older people. It’s going to put them in closer proximity to that. That should help our call times.” 

In addition to adding new stations, Mock said Fire Rescue has continued to also improve services at its active facilities. That includes adding additional rescue units, ladder companies and water tenders to the existing 12 stations. This is all in an effort to improve response times. 

“As people are moving into the area, higher density, we have more multifamily dwellings. So, even in areas like Fleming Island, where we start to get more apartment complexes or along that 220 corridor where you see new ones going in, we need to increase the number of units available for response versus what we have now. And we’ve been doing that.” 

The new station will fully replace services from the facility on Pine Avenue. The old location, Mock said, will be used as storage for some time, but will eventually be demolished. 

“We may move some people around that are doing administrative services that can work out of there, but the bulk of the fire service will come out of the new 22. And then we’ll still use it to house and store equipment for the time being.” 

After years of planning, the wait is finally over.  

“We’re almost 30 years behind the vision of when the property was built, was bought, but now we’re attempting to put that vision into play,” Mock said.