By Isabela Lund
The News Tribune
BONNEY LAKE, Wash. — Staff are finally moving into East Pierce and Rescue’s new station in downtown Bonney Lake — a move that has been almost seven years in the making.
The new station at 8601 Main St. E. allows the fire agency to move out of the Bonney Lake Public Safety Building, which they have shared with the Bonney Lake Police Department for 40 years.
“They’re running out of space for the city and wanted us to move on,” Jon Parkinson, the fire chief, told The News Tribune. “As a good partner, we also needed our own space to grow into.”
East Pierce Fire and Rescue bought the land from the city in 2012, Parkinson said. Voters approved the project as part of an $80 million capital bond in 2018. Construction began in August 2022 and staff started moving in on Feb. 20.
The new building is two stories, with the first story set up for 31 administrative staff members, including human resources, payroll and technicians. The second story is the fire station, dedicated to Bonney Lake’s crew of 30 firefighters.
“Being able to work in a new building that’s kind of yours is a special moment,” Parkinson said. “It’s exciting for everybody, it’s exciting for me, as the fire chief, to watch this.”
The first story has conference rooms, cubicles and offices for administrative staff. The second story has an equipment room, an office, a laundry room, a gym, dorms to sleep in and a kitchen with four refrigerators.
Parkinson said the building increases efficiency by allowing administrative staff to be under one roof instead of scattered across 15 miles like they were before.
“It’s important to us that the building is going to last a long time,” Parkinson said. “We need to be sure that it’s big enough to expand as the community grows. We’re seeing a lot of growth in this area of Pierce County.”
The new building is designed to last 50 years, Parkinson said.
“The fire station portion of this building was designed to last that entire 50-year span so we’ve got some room to grow,” Parkinson said. “We can accommodate more personnel than we have today, accommodate more emergency vehicles than we have today.”
Where is this funding coming from?
In November 2018, voters approved East Pierce Fire and Rescue’s $80 million capital bond to replace four existing fire stations and add one new one.
Parkinson told The News Tribune that the Bonney Lake fire station alone cost about $24.5 million of that $80 million. He also said that voters are currently paying 18 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value. According to Zillow, the average house in Bonney Lake costs $677,566. That homeowner pays $121.96 per year for these bonds.
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When voters first approved the bond, East Pierce estimated that voters would pay 25 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value. Parkinson wrote in an email to The News Tribune that the district was able to “take advantage of historically low interest rates,” which brought the bond payments down. They then passed the cost savings onto the taxpayers to make it 18 cents per $1,000.
Besides Bonney Lake, the bond will replace the stations in Prairie Ridge, Lake Tapps and Edgewood and build a brand-new station in Tehaleh.
“The first one was in the City of Edgewood, that one went into service in late 2023,” Parkinson said. “Followed by this facility — then, right behind this facility in Bonney Lake, we’ve got a station in West Lake Tapps that will go into service in April of 2025.”
The new Tehaleh station is expected to be the fourth one to open in May of this year, Parkinson said.
“Our Prairie Ridge fire station has been awarded to a contractor and they’ve been given notice to proceed,” Parkinson said. “So, we expect that site work to begin any day now and hope to see construction wrapped up by late summer 2026.”
The $80 million bond also allowed East Pierce Fire and Rescue to replace its emergency vehicles, Parkinson said.
Staff are expected to keep moving in over the next two or three months, Parkinson said, but they are planning an open house for the public on May 17 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
“This is the community’s fire station, as are all the fire stations in East Pierce,” Parkinson said. “And they are only here because of the ongoing support of our East Pierce residents.”
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