The Merced City Council this week unanimously approved a location for a new fire station in the Bellevue Ranch area – a sixth firehouse to help accommodate the city’s burgeoning growth.

Elizabeth Wilson

The Merced FOCUS

Fire Station No. 56 at M Street and M Circle, just south of East Bellevue Road, will house additional engines and a new emergency operations center. It would also include a safety-themed park for community members.

The station is anticipated to cost $14 million, though the city still needs $5.3 million more. Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria, D-Merced, secured $4 million from the state budget, and so did the city. In the next year, city officials will move forward with a design phase for the new fire station and identify more funding options.

The area the station will ser

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