After serving for three years as fire chief, Garcia retired in 1999 and successfully ran for a commission seat later that year. On Wednesday, Garcia was looking at another success as he and other city leaders broke ground for a new fire station.
''For me this is almost a dream come true,'' Garcia said at the 2 p.m. groundbreaking ceremony for Fire Station No. 4. Dressed in firefighter helmets and holding the firefighters' trademark axes, Garcia, Miami Beach Mayor David Dermer and City Manager Jorge Gonzalez gathered on the flattened lot of the former station, 6880 Indian Creek Dr., and opened the construction site with a ceremonial dig into the dirt.
Construction of the new $2.7 million fire station comes about after several years of attempts by Garcia and fire-safety officers who tried to persuade the city to replace the aging and outdated structure, Garcia said.
''It didn't seem to be a priority,'' said Garcia, who worked with the Miami Beach Fire Department for 26 years. ''It was totally unsuitable for people to live in,'' he said.
With construction to be completed in 16 to 18 months, the new 9,140-square-foot building will be wired with a digital alert system designed to quicken response time to emergencies. The building will be three times larger than the old station, house two crews and include additional space to accommodate a third crew, said Tim Hemstreet, director of the city's capital improvement projects.
Currently, seven firefighters man the station. The crew and equipment are in trailers at Collins Avenue and 79th Street while construction is under way.
The number of parking stations, known as bays, also will increase from two to three. The bays at the old station were too small for modern-day trucks and rescue ambulances, said Eric Yuhr, assistant fire chief since 2001. ''It's going to be staffed with a firetruck and rescue unit,'' Yuhr said. ``I'm thrilled the station's being built.''
The old station was demolished in July after being condemned by the city's Building Department as structurally unsafe in March 2001. For three years the Miami Design Preservation League lobbied the city to designate the station as a historic landmark and to preserve the building, but the city concluded it could not afford to preserve it.
Funding for the station comes from a $92 million general obligation bond passed by voters in November 1999, Hemstreet said.
''The total for fire safety out of the general obligation bond was a little over $9 million,'' said Ronnie Singer, community information manager of the city's capital improvement projects. ``Of that, $1,900,000 was allocated for Station No. 4.''
A Community Development Block Grant Fund of $550,000 and additional monies from the city's financial reserves rounded out the funding, she said.
