New fire station opens at SFU Burnaby campus

Temporary fire station at SFU Burnaby. (UniverCity Community Association)

The growing student and residential populations atop Burnaby Mountain, where Simon Fraser University’s (SFU) main campus is located, are now served by a new fire station.

Temporary facilities establishing the brand new additional Fire Station 8 opened within existing office space at the SFU Burnaby campus earlier this week. The temporary fire station located at 9055 University High Street will remain in place until the new permanent purpose-built fire station facility reaches completion nearby on University Drive, within a site south of the UniverCity neighbourhood.

The temporary facility is already fully staffed and equipped to operate 24/7.

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“This is an important step in our work to greatly enhance our response capability in the event of an emergency in the Burnaby Mountain area,” said Burnaby mayor Mike Hurley, a former firefighter with the Burnaby Fire Department.

“Residents have been asking for this, and we’re thrilled to be making this happen.”

Construction on the permanent fire hall building will begin early this year, and it is expected to reach completion in early 2024.

SFU is providing the land for the future permanent facility, the City of Burnaby is allocating $1 million toward design and planning costs, and the federal government is providing $30 million toward construction. This project was confirmed in late 2021.

Temporary fire station at SFU Burnaby. (UniverCity Community Association)

Artistic rendering of the new permanent purpose-built Fire Station 8 at SFU Burnaby. (City of Burnaby)

A fire hall atop Burnaby Mountain is necessary to serve SFU Burnaby’s growth, which is expected to reach 19,400 students and 9,300 employees by 2035. As well, the UniverCity residential population is slated to increase from 6,000 to 9,500 upon the full buildout of the neighbourhood — and this does not include SFU’s plans to build more on-campus student housing.

“We care deeply about the well-being of the Burnaby Mountain community, and an important part of that is making sure that university and community members can quickly access emergency services,” said SFU President Joy Johnson.

“While Fire Station 8 is under construction, I’m thrilled that the City of Burnaby has established a temporary fire hall that will support these critical safety needs.”

Location of the future City of Burnaby permanent fire station No. 8 at the northeast corner of the intersection of University Drive and Tower Road, serving SFU and Burnaby Mountain. (City of Burnaby)

There is limited road access to reach the SFU campus and UniverCity neighbourhood situated at the top of the 370-metre (1,214 ft) tall mountain, and the roads up the mountain can become inaccessible during winter weather conditions. Additionally, there are forest fire risks at Burnaby Mountain, including risks of an incident from the Trans Mountain oil tank farm, which is undergoing a significant expansion.

Burnaby is also in the process of building the new Fire Station 4 on Greystone Drive, located between Burnaby Golf Course and the oil tank farm. It is set to open by the end of 2023.

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