Officials with the city and development company Haseko Inc. have broken ground on a new fire station that will move firefighting operations closer to the new center of the growing 'Ewa-'Ewa Beach area.

The one-acre site is on the corner of Keone'ula Boulevard and Kaileole'a Drive next to Keone'ula Elementary School.

Haseko agreed to donate the parcel as one of the conditions allowing it to put up the Ocean Pointe community.

Haseko also donated two watercraft equipped with rescue sleds and trailers valued at about $35,000.

The city has budgeted about $6.5 million for design and construction of a two-story, 10,000-square-foot fire station. When completed in about two years, the facility is expected to replace the existing 'Ewa Beach fire station at Pohakupuna Road.

The new station is supposed to serve as a model for future Honolulu Fire Department stations, designed to be gender-neutral and environmentally sensitive, fire officials said.

"This location will help us maintain our response time standards in the 'Ewa community and provide a 21st century, modern fire station," Fire Chief Ken Silva said.

The population center of the 'Ewa-'Ewa Beach region has gradually been shifting north from the older 'Ewa Beach community since the late 1980s as thousands of new homes are being constructed in Haseko's Ocean Pointe and Hoakalei community, as well as Gentry Homes' Ewa By Gentry.

'Ewa Beach fire station firefighters attending Friday's groundbreaking also voiced their approval of the new facility, noting that the kitchen in its existing 54-year-old station is not very roomy.

Mayor Mufi Hannemann quipped that the old station was dedicated the same year he was born.