Stuart Fire Station No.3 has an unusual temporary home while they await their new station

STUART, Fla. (CBS12) — The City of Stuart and Martin County Fire Rescue ended their service partnership for the northern part of the city last year.

A state of the art facility is in the works – but it won’t be ready until next year – so they’ve had to come up with a temporary fix to bridge the gap.

Stuart Fire Rescue Station Three is currently operating out of an RV...at least for now, while their new home is being built. But don’t let the outside fool you – this is no ordinary RV stationed in Haney Creek Park.

Inside, this Keystone Cougar has most of the amenities a full scale fire hall would feature, Daniel Hudzina and Michael Spinetta were stationed here Monday – and they like it.

“It’s beautiful in there, it’s really nice. It’s nice and quaint, really high quality stuff. Our department’s done a great job getting the top notch equipment for us, obviously with this fifth-wheel. It’s beautiful in there. It’s kind of it feels like a home away from home,” Hudzina said.

“It’s pretty much the same thing as a house in there. You have a kitchen, bathroom, shower, all that good stuff,” Spinetta added.

The ambulance is standing by right out front and there are two or three firefighters stationed here 24 hours a day before the city spent the $61,000 for the RV, Chief Vince Felicione made sure there wasn’t a better option.

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“Whether that was leasing a commercial space or building out a plaza space we looked at everything in different parts of the area up here, and it was all very expensive to do especially for a temporary purpose,” he said.

In fact, the chief says response times have actually improved since the park is further north than the station they used to work out of.

“It would take longer for those crews to come up to an emergency on the northern part of the city limits," he stated. "Here, they can cover this northern part in just a matter of minutes.”

Along with quicker response times, the first responders stationed here say they get a chance to talk to people more than they would being inside a traditional fire station.

“They’re buying into the ‘hey, let’s live in the park while we’re waiting for our station to be built,” Chief Felicione said.

“You do get to interact with the public a lot more being at a park, so it’s different but it’s nice, it’s not bad," Spinetta remarked.

“See a lot of people out here, get to interact with the public and it’s just been a solid time out here. It’s nice and peaceful too,” Hudzina chimed in.

As for what will happen to the RV once the new station is built, the chief says the department would like to keep it, but the city manager will have the final say.