Miami: New Data Center Built For the Florida Fire Dept

A new fire station and data center are being built for a Florida fire department. The grand inauguration of Fire Rescue Station 50, a brand-new firehouse and emergency operations data center for the City of Marco Island, is scheduled for April 28. The fire station and data center are located on Marco Island at 1280 San Marco Road. The facility was constructed over the course of a year and a half by Manhattan Construction Group under a $12.5 million contract with BSSW Architects. The data center has been designed to withstand hurricanes of Category 5 strength. The data center is approximately 253 square feet and contains five 42U cabinets.

The original Fire Rescue Station 50 was constructed in 1992, functioning as both the city hall of Marco Island and the center for emergency operations during severe storms. In 2017, Hurricane Irma nearly flooded the structure, forcing firemen to move out and resulting in an award from FEMA Hazard Mitigation to partially finance the rebuilding. Additional funding for the new structure came from Collier County's temporary one-cent sales tax for infrastructure construction.

According to the City of Marco Island's website, the city's IT is spread across 12 distinct physical locations within the city and on the island's shores, with the Fire Station serving as the city's primary data center. At the beginning of this year, EdgeConneX announced plans for a third data center in Miami, Florida, bringing the company's total capacity in the state to 9MW. In addition, CoreSite, StratCap, and EdgePresence acquired or opened data centers in the state in the past year.