The city of Grand Rapids plans to buy land and build a new fire station, fox17online.com reported.

The new station will be located at the corner of Kalamazoo Avenue SE and Kendall Street SE, just north of 44th Street. The site lands in the historically-underfunded Third Ward, which has the largest Black population in the city, the report said.

According to city documents, the Grand Rapids Fire Department has monitored metrics in the Third Ward, where performance has been “lagging” since 2015.

The Kalamazoo district of the Third Ward is currently served by a single station, Station 4. Per city documents, Station 4 is called to more emergencies and protects more people than any other unit in Grand Rapids, the report said. It’s also seen a boost in the number of calls it receives, up 5.59% from the previous year.

The Grand Rapids Fire Department has been planning and searching for the right spot for a new fire station since 2022.

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