River Islands now officially has its own fire station. 

The Lathrop Manteca Fire District is now staffing Station 35 – which will be the second station in the sprawling district capable of housing two crews – to serve what will become the largest concentration of residential development in the city when it’s completed. The station will also house the district’s administrative operations, that until recently have been split over several different campuses because of space constraints. 

While the response times to River Islands improved significantly with the opening of the Bradshaw’s Crossing bridge in 2017, being stationed in the master planned community – which will have more than 11,000 homes when fully built out – will further cut down on response times. 

“The addition of Fire Station 35 will reduce response times to the River Islands development by over 60 seconds,” Lathrop Manteca Fire Chief Gene Neely said. “In an industry measured by seconds this is huge – Station 35 positions a unit closer to the I-5 and Mossdale area that we frequently respond to calls at.”

The public will be invited down to Station 35 – located at 19001 Somerston Parkway – on Sunday, March 31, from 12 to 4 p.m. for a ribbon cutting and open house of the state-of-the-art facility. The station will eventually house both an engine and truck crew when development warrants the addition. The district’s newest fire engine, which was purchased from Pierce in Appleton, Wisconsin, will serve the community. 

According to Neely, having the district’s operations all in one place will be invaluable for planning purposes, and will allow the district to meet the needs of a growing community. In addition to large numbers of new residential houses being constructed within the district, more than 10 million square feet of warehouse and light industrial warehousing is going in along the Highway 120 corridor, and the district already faces a number of unique challenges including a major river, multiple freeway sections, a fertilizer plant, and a railway switchyard. 

“This brings our administrative staff back together under one roof – before we had to have personnel split because we simply didn’t have the space,” Neely said. “We had cramped offices and limited file space – Station 35 is a game-changer in that we can also now administer the functions of government back under one roof and have room to grow. 

“It’s really another example of reasonable growth.”

To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.