Ground moving to build Fire Station No. 572

Fire station No. 572 serving the Rancho Mirage, Sorrento and the Tortosa communities officially started the path from mobile home to $1 million brick-and-mortar building after a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday.

“A fire station is a firefighter’s home away from home. And for the last seven years Station 572 has been a temporary home,” Maricopa Fire Chief Wade Brannon told a crowd of dignitaries and community members at the site on the northwest corner of West Bowlin and North Hartman roads.

The chief told the audience the fire department established a fire station in the mobile home after a flood in 2005 in the Santa Rosa Wash closed all of the east-west roads in Maricopa.

“With the explosive growth at that time, not only in the city, but in the department as well and in response to the flooding, the fire administration at the time was able to respond quickly and fully staff Station 572 virtually overnight and provide fire protection across the city,” Brannon said.