The 3,700 square foot facility, built by Bancroft Construction, on Milford Neck Road in Frederica will become the new permanent home for EMS serving that region.
The project cost nearly $5 million dollars, paid for through Kent County’s allocation of the American Rescue Plan Act.
John Tinger, Director of Public Safety for Kent County:
“What this will allow us to do is take the medics out of the fire house and put us in a more strategic position to respond north and south using route one, especially in this area that’s part of the comprehensive road plan. It’s just going to boom with population over the next few years.” he said.
The facility will house two full time paramedic units, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, while also allowing room for ride along students and other EMS candidates.
Tinger says the sleeping area is both isolated enough that first responders can sleep undisturbed but connected enough that response times will not suffer.
Two drive through bays will house paramedic vehicles.
Kent County also said in a release that the facility will have a "flexible workspace with medical supply storage, decontamination/laundry area, and upgraded communications infrastructure to improve EMS coverage for Frederica and the surrounding communities"
The location, strategically chosen along Route 1 to serve an area expected to see a population boom over the next few years, will also be home to the Public Safety Warehouse building, which houses Kent County’s brand-new Emergency Fieldcom Unit.
“That’s replacing our 22-year-old fieldcom unit. So, with the ARPA funding, we were able to get a brand new fieldcom unit and needed a warehouse to store it. Right now, we’re storing it out of the Camden Fire House, so we’re kind of borrowing and renting space out of another local fire company.” said Tinger.
Tinger says that fieldcom units act as a mobile headquarters for fire and ambulance services, and that those have been deployed in the past for natural disaster responses in the First State’s coastal communities.
Next to the EMS facility is the 4,600 square foot Public Safety Warehouse building, housing Kent County’s brand-new Emergency Fieldcom Unit, which serves as a mobile base of operations for fire and ambulance services.
