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Did Orange County open its three INVEST fire stations when it said it would?

The Roadmap Reckoner · Orange County, Florida (Fire Stations 67, 68 and 87) · last checked 2026-10-15

Verdict	DELIVERED LATE (Station 68 by about three years, Station 87 by more than a year; Station 67 on time)
Promiser	Orange County Government (INVEST program, Orange County Fire Rescue)
Place	Orange County, Florida (Fire Stations 67, 68 and 87)
Promised	"anticipated to be complete in fall 2018 to early 2019" (Stations 68 and 87; Station 67 "June 4, 2018"), Orange County's INVEST page and the FY 2016-17 fire department report
Delivered / status	Station 67 opened June 4, 2018; Station 68's ribbon was cut April 20, 2022; Station 87 was open by fiscal 2022-23 (its rescue unit R87 is in that year's unit-response count), day not found
Last checked	2026-10-15

Verdict: DELIVERED LATE (Station 68 by about three years, Station 87 by more than a year; Station 67 on time). Through its INVEST program, Orange County set aside money for "three new fire stations ($18 million), new fire apparatus and equipment ($7 million), and to partially fund a new regional fire training facility ($5 million)" [C18]. The county's page said "The in-service date for Station 67 is anticipated to be June 4, 2018", and the other two were due in "fall 2018 to early 2019" [C1, C2]. Station 67 opened on June 4, 2018 [C5]. Station 68's ribbon was cut on April 20, 2022 [C16]. Station 87 was still being built in August 2020, and its rescue unit, R87, is in the fire department's count of unit responses for fiscal 2022-23 [C11, C30]. All three are open now, and so is a county training center the program helped pay for [C17, C24].

Last checked: October 15, 2026.

The promise. Three stations, new apparatus, and part of a training facility, with dates for the stations [C1, C2, C18].
Station 67: on time. It opened on the in-service date the page gave [C1, C5].
Station 68: about three years late. Its construction contract was approved on July 7, 2020, and its ribbon was cut on April 20, 2022 [C14, C16].
Station 87: more than a year late. Its construction contract was approved on November 12, 2019, and an August 2020 change order still speaks of vehicles that "will be stationed at FS #87" [C10, C11].
The apparatus: announced into service. The county said 12 new rescue units would go into service on October 1, 2016 [C20].
The training facility: built at a larger scale. It became a "$52 million state-of-the-art Fire Training Center", which the county owns and operates [C24, C27b].
The county's own page still shows the old dates for Stations 68 and 87 [C1].

The promise

The county's 2016 release on the program split $30 million this way [C18]:

"three new fire stations ($18 million), new fire apparatus and equipment ($7 million), and to partially fund a new regional fire training facility ($5 million)"

The station dates. The county's page on the program says "The in-service date for Station 67 is anticipated to be June 4, 2018." For the other two it says "The station is anticipated to be complete in fall 2018 to early 2019." [C1] The fire department's fiscal 2016-17 annual report agrees: "the properties for Fire Station 68 and Fire Station 87 were acquired in 2017 and are estimated for completion in fall 2018 to early 2019" [C2].
The training facility. No date was given. The page says "In partnership with Valencia College and a diverse group of public safety partners, the vision for a world-class training facility has taken shape." [C19]
This entry measures the three stations against the dates given, and reports the apparatus and the training facility beside them.

Timeline

October 2016. "on Oct. 1, 2016, Orange County Fire Rescue will place 12 new rescue units into service" [C20].
September 2017. At Station 67's groundbreaking: "Station 67's budgeted cost is $6.4 million with a projected completion of spring 2018." [C4]
June 4, 2018. "Orange County Government celebrated the opening of Fire Rescue Station 67 on June 4, 2018." [C5]
Early 2019. The end of the window the county gave for Stations 68 and 87 [C1, C2].
November 12 and December 13, 2019. Station 87: "The Contract award was approved on November 12, 2019. Original Contract dated December 13, 2019" [C10]. It was to be "a new 2-bay prototype fire station" [C9b].
July 7 and August 13, 2020. Station 68: "The Contract award was approved on July 7, 2020. Original Contract dated August 13, 2020" [C14].
August 11, 2020. A Station 87 change order covers "the emergency and rescue vehicles that will be stationed at FS #87", "for a revised lump sum contract amount of $3,879,836.36" [C11].
April 20, 2022. "Orange County Fire Rescue officially commemorated the newest fire station with a ribbon cutting ceremony on April 20, 2022." That was Station 68 [C16].
January 2023. The county said it "recently opened Fire Station 68", and "In 2023, the County will break ground on a new fire training facility" [C25].
Fiscal 2022-23. The fire department's annual report lists Station 87's rescue unit, R87, in its count of unit responses, and says the "Training Facility broke ground in July 2023" [C30, C23].
November 2025. The county: "Six new fire stations opened (Stations 67, 87, 68, 44, 80, and 48)", and a "$52 million state-of-the-art Fire Training Center" [C17, C24].
January 13, 2026. The county licensed Valencia College to use the training facility [C27b, C28].

What changed, and why, in the record's own words

Stations 68 and 87 were contracted after the window closed. Station 87's construction contract was approved in November 2019, and Station 68's in July 2020, both after "early 2019" [C10, C14, C2].
Why. No county record read gives a reason for the stations' delay [the trace].
The training facility grew. INVEST's share was to "partially fund" it with $5 million [C18]. The fire department's report calls it a "$52 million dollar project" [C23].
Valencia College's role changed. The page described the facility as a partnership with Valencia College [C19]. In January 2026 the county, which "owns and operates a Fire Training Facility" at 11308 Curry Ford Road, licensed Valencia to use it: "Licensee has agreed to a user fee of $3,000 per month ($36,000 each year) for the use of the Facility" [C27b, C28].

What it cost

The program's split: $18 million for three stations, $7 million for apparatus and equipment, $5 million toward the training facility [C18].
Station 67: "Station 67's budgeted cost is $6.4 million" [C4].
Station 87's construction contract reached "a revised lump sum contract amount of $3,879,836.36" in August 2020 [C11].
The training facility: a "$52 million state-of-the-art Fire Training Center" [C24].
No county record read totals the INVEST spending against each part of the $30 million [the trace].

What is still open

Station 87's opening day. No county record read gives it; the records place the opening between August 2020 and fiscal 2022-23 [C11, C30, the trace].
The county's page. It still says Stations 68 and 87 are "anticipated to be complete in fall 2018 to early 2019" [C1].

What this entry did not check

The fire department's social media, where an open house for Station 87 may have been announced [the trace].
The county's budget documents for what INVEST paid toward each station and the training facility [the trace].
News reports were used only to find records [the trace].

Sources

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