Work has begun on a new fire station at Kennewick’s Vista Field, one of two major fire station projects planned in the city.

The $7 million project will move Kennewick’s Fire Station 3 to 6941 W. Grandridge Blvd., near the Three Rivers Convention campus and the former Vista municipal airfield. Kennewick also is preparing to build its sixth fire station in the Southridge area in south Kennewick.

Utility taxes will pay the debt for the projects.

Total Site Services, the contractor, is already familiar with the neighborhood. The Richland-based company recently completed a $5 million project to install utilities and roads at Vista Field for the Port of Kennewick.

Its work set the stage for the port to begin planning the first phase of the mixed-use development it envisions at Vista.

The new fire station will fit in with the neighborhood. It will replace the existing Fire Station 3 at 7400 W. Quinault Ave., which is functionally obsolete. The city has not determined whether to reuse or sell the site, said Evelyn Lusignan, city spokeswoman.

The new station is 12,570 square feet and will house six personnel, including firefighter emergency medical technicians and firefighter paramedics.

It will boast extra-deep equipment bays and house two fire engines and an EMS unit to start, with room to add reserve and aerial equipment as needed. It incorporates modern decontamination systems as well.

In a nod to area history, the new station incorporates a display bay for a 1922 American La France Brockway Torpedo — Kennewick’s first motorized fire engine, affectionately known as Old No. 1.

The city is targeting a May 3, 2021, completion date.

TCA Architecture • Planning Inc. of Seattle designed the project. Alliance Management & Construction Solutions of Kennewick is the project manager. Harms Engineering of Pasco is the civil engineer.