Hillsborough County is giving its fire rescue system a serious overhaul, trading in aging firehouses for modern stations and putting new roaming rescue units on the road in an effort to shave precious seconds off emergency response times in unincorporated areas.
The county's plan pairs a wave of replacement and new stations with a Peak Rescue Division whose crews will float to where the calls are hottest, instead of waiting at a fixed bay door.
New Station 13 Replaces Aging Citrus Park Building
One of the first big projects is in Citrus Park, where longtime Station 13 is being replaced with a modern three-bay facility designed to house five responders with seven individual sleeping rooms. County officials say the roughly 7,200-square-foot station at 7313 Ehrlich Road is expected to open this summer and carry a price tag of about $8.5 million.
According to the Tampa Beacon, the new building will replace a roughly 60-year-old volunteer-era station on Gunn Highway, a structure that long ago outlived the demands of a modern, full-time fire rescue crew.
Design Upgrades And Funding
County planning materials show that replacement stations will come with a suite of upgrades, including modern station-alerting systems, dedicated decontamination areas and individual bunk rooms intended to protect crews' health and boost readiness.
Officials say those design standards are being paired with a funding mix that combines county commission dollars and American Rescue Plan grants, all folded into the broader capital plan in an attempt to ease long-term operational strain. According to Hillsborough County, the investment is meant to cut response times while also limiting how often firefighters are exposed to hazardous contaminants back at the station.
Peak Rescue Division Will Roam During Busy Hours
The county's new Peak Rescue Division is designed to attack the problem from the street side. It will field up to 10 roving rescue units that operate 12 hours a day, seven days a week, roughly 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., so they are on the road during the busiest windows and can help reduce reliance on private ambulance companies.
The division adds 48 positions in all, including 20 rescue lieutenants and 26 paramedics, and a county presentation predicts these units will free up station-based crews to stay available for fires, crashes and other calls that need engines and trucks.
Hillsborough County Fire Rescue officials say the approach is already showing promise. In a May 2024 pilot, public information chief Rob Herrin told FOX 13, "We have seen a reduction of 42 seconds" in response times. Other analyses found reductions of up to two minutes in high-demand periods, according to EMS1.
Why The Push Now
County data show that in recent years many units were running hot most of the day, with several listed as overutilized. That strain helped convince commissioners to back both the station construction program and the roaming rescue units.
Reporters who reviewed county figures noted that unit overutilization was higher in 2023 and 2024 before easing in 2025 as the new strategies came online. At the same time, county projections suggest the Peak Rescue Division could help pay for itself. According to the Tampa Beacon, the county estimates the roaming units could generate more than $7 million a year by billing transports at roughly $800 per trip plus mileage.
What Residents Can Expect
Several replacement and brand-new stations are already under construction or moving through design, and county leaders say the Station 13 blueprint will likely serve as a model for future rebuilds across the unincorporated county.
Maps, project locations and timelines are laid out in the county's American Rescue Plan recovery filing with the U.S. Treasury. According to Hillsborough County, the broader package of new stations and roaming rescues is aimed at shortening response times and reducing long-term health and safety risks for crews as the county's population continues to grow.
