The cost of dealing with the problem is staggering. 

This year, the city is projected to spend more than $3 million on personnel and equipment for first responders who deal with overdoses. 

"I don't think anybody wants to die and they know that they just almost died, but yet they cannot not shoot up again," Delray Beach Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Todd Lynch said.  

In some cases, fire rescue may make a run to treat the same person several times a day.

Station 5, serving the neighborhoods around the 57/91 interchange as well as freeway incidents, will move into the 9,481-square-foot building at 2540 E. La Palma Ave. in about a year.

The current fire house on North Kraemer Boulevard, more than 55 years old, then will be used by the city’s public utilities. It is more than half the size of the new station.

The $5.4 million fire station, which department officials said will improve response times, is expected to take some of the pressure off of the station that serves the Broadway area.

Construction of the firehouse and EMS station on a 3-acre tract on Commerce Street initially had a projected end date of August. Rain and a few other delays have pushed back the timeline, and officials now believe the station should be completed by Oct. 1, he said.

The city of Meridian will move forward with building its sixth fire station in 2018 — a project that was going to be delayed a year until the Meridian Rural Fire District stepped in.

The rural fire district has offered to pay for the station’s first 13.5 months of operations, including wages and benefits of up to 12 firefighters. That expense is projected at $1.5 million.