The city has an appetite to build a new fire station among the rentals, restaurants and shopping that master planning for the Route 79-Davol Corridor imagines. Finding a “strategic” location for it along the waterfront or nearby could be a solid first step.

At the March 19 City Council Committee on Public Safety meeting, Councilor Chris Peckham, who chairs the council’s subcommittee, said a new station could cost anywhere between $15 million on the lower end, while a public safety complex could ring up closer to $30 million.

While Fall River Fire Department Chief Jeffrey Bacon and Fall River Firefighters Union IAFF Local 1314 President Michael O’Reagan were in favor of a station close to Route 79, the city’s Chief Financial Officer Emily Arpke reminded speakers that the approximately 22 acres of developable waterfront remained in limbo between state and local ownership, with no developers identified for key parcels.

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