ORLANDO, Fla. — Lake Nona is one of the fastest-growing communities in the nation, which saw more than 5,000 homes built since 2005, according to developer Tavistock.

With growth, comes needed resources to support the people currently living and working in the community.

For Christopher Hertel and his family, Lake Nona is home.

“I figured it’d be a nice, safe environment for my daughter. That was why we moved here, and we fell in love with it,” said Hertel.

Hertel has been living in Lake Nona since 2013 and he has seen the community grow.

“We have three major hospitals and yet we have the same fire stations that we built 15 years ago,” said Hertel.

His view on life changed after Hurricane Ian. Hertel fell off a ladder as he was working on his roof. While there are several nearby hospitals, he said he needed trauma care at Orlando Regional Medical Center.

“The firefighters were trying to talk me into a more local (hospital) because they were explaining that if somebody else gets hurt, it’s at least 45 minutes for another ambulance to arrive to our area. That horrified me,” said Hertel.

Orlando Fire Department officials said if needed, they can call on their nearby fire agency partners. But after Hertel recovered, he started researching more on the matter.

With the growth in the Lake Nona area, Hertel believes it is time the Orlando Fire Department expand services not only supporting firefighters, but the people who live there. Hertel is urging leaders for a new fire station, but in the meantime, he would like to see a temporary one set up in his community.

Spectrum News 13 took Hertel’s questions to Orlando Fire Chief Charlie Salazar. He agrees it is time Lake Nona gets a new fire station.

“We know that growth is coming out there. Currently, we have plans for a new fire station to be developed in the Poitras area. It’s currently in the design phase,” said Salazar.

Salazar said that the fire station is tentatively set to break ground in 2025. But with a new fire station averaging about $7 million to $12 million, the chief said he wants to make sure it checks all the boxes.

“You can’t predict what the economy is going to do. So, we really have to be careful with the community’s dollars. We don’t want to over resource and have resources that are under-utilized,” said Chief Salazar.

As for a temporary fire station, Salazar said Lake Nona is not seeing the call volume for his agency to add one. However, he is hoping to prioritize a new permanent fire station.

“If I had a crystal ball, I would reposition the current stations that we have because they are not adequately in the right places. But you can’t predict that a head of time,” said Salazar.

In the meantime, after reviewing response times, the chief says he is satisfied with the men and women who work to serve the Orlando community.

As for Hertel, he’s hoping that a new fire station comes sooner rather than later.

The city of Orlando’s proposed budget for the next fiscal year includes adding 42 new positions within the fire department. That includes 29 firefighters specifically for the SunBridge temporary fire station.

The proposed budget also includes $1.75 million for that temporary station and a note to consider in future budgets the growing public safety need in the southeast part of the city.