New fire station preps for EV Battery Plant, modernizing public safety

Yahoo

21-02-2025

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The new fire station rising up out of the ground about a mile from Panasonic's EV Battery plant in De Soto is part of the hundreds of millions of dollars getting invested in northwest Johnson County before the plant starts production.
The more than five million square foot battery plant dwarves the roughly 20,000 square foot fire station, but the smaller structure is going to be specially outfitted and house specially-trained firefighters to keep the growing industrial investments safe.
'That's a larger footprint that's going to accommodate a larger firetruck, that's an aerial firetruck platform that's going to be able to reach building heights of 100 feet,' said Northwest Consolidated Fire District Chief Todd Maxton while pointing to renderings of the new building.
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Chief Maxton says its giving his firefighters an important tool to protect Johnson County's growing population and massive industrial investment in their roughly 70 square miles.
'We still have to answer all of the 911 calls, and if someone calls with an emergency, we still have to be there, whether it's citizen or a property owner or a new mega warehouse,' said Maxton.
is expected near Panasonic's $4 billion EV Battery plant in the coming years while suppliers and other businesses move close to the Astra Enterprise Park.
Just down the road, the Flint Commerce Center offers even more space that is expected to be related to the operations at the Panasonic facility.
It means that Maxton's firefighters are training up to be ready for manufacturing and production emergencies in general and lithium-ion challenges specifically.
'We're getting our firefighters trained,' said Maxton.
'We have access to one of the country's subject matter experts on lithium-ion batteries, we can bounce things off of that group,' said Maxton.
The nearly $20 million price tag for the fire station and its new fire truck is covered mostly by Panasonic as part of its . That same deal has Panasonic covering the operating costs for the 20 years that the TIF is in place.
Various other infrastructure projects have also been paid for by Panasonic as part of that deal.
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'A project like Panasonic, at that scope, allowed some very big projects to happen all at once,' said De Soto Mayor Rick Walker.
Walker says there was always the desire to develop De Soto south of K-10 but this kind of investment lets decades of work be completed in a fraction of the time.
'All these elements will be ready when the demand is there, when the need is there and we're able to serve this new economic opportunity that's coming to us,' said Walker.
The new fire station will replace an existing facility that's roughly 80 years old and is designed with the most recent best practices. It's expected to be operational by the end of 2025, a few months after Panasonic is expected to start producing electric vehicle batteries. Maxton says his existing staff and equipment will be able to cover it until then.
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