MANTECA — Manteca will be getting a new fire station and an additional nine firefighters as the city
“Building this station and adding another engine to our system really is going to improve our response times to not only the community here, but throughout the whole city,” Manteca Fire Department Battalion Chief Sterrie McLeod said.
Right now, District 1 in the southwest portion of Manteca only has one fire station. It’s the second busiest in the county in terms of call volume, with nearly 13,000 calls last year.
The new station at the intersection of Oak Trail Drive and Joshua Street, and additional firefighters, will allow them to cover more ground and respond even quicker.
“Adding the nine firefighters will allow us to staff an additional fire engine in town,” Battalion Chief McLeod explained. “While we’re preparing for Station 6, we’ll be able to bring in all these nine firefighters, so that way we can provide quicker service right now.”
It takes fire crews about 12 to 15 minutes to respond to a call in this part of the city. If another call comes in, they have to pull resources from another station, which leaves that area of town without a fire crew.
Residents are relieved to hear more services are coming to the city.
“In case of an emergency, I think the better the response time and the closer the fire department is, I think that would be great help to the community,” Manteca Resident Avdeep Sandhu shared.
“It makes me feel safer for sure knowing that there’s a resource that I’m able to call them on that’d be close to the community in case there’s ever an emergency around my house for me and my daughter,” resident Tatiana Mao said.
This is all thanks, in part, to Measure Q, which was approved by voters in 2024.
City council recently approved a budget appropriation of over $760,000 for onboarding expenses and salaries for the new firefighters. An over $2 million federal grant will also help with salaries and other benefits.
“With the building of Station 6, that unit will then move there, and all those guys will be trained, have familiarity with the city, and really be seamless on how we implement the station,” Battalion Chief McLeod explained.
The nine firefighters will be on the job starting in March.
In terms of the new fire station, they are planning on breaking ground by the end of the year.