The city of St. Catharines says its in the midst of a building boom and now it's fire department is planning for the future which could include more high rise buildings.
In a release the city says by the end of September, it had received nearly 200 more building permit applications this year over the same time last year.
Mayor Walter Sendzik says the trend shows that St. Catharines is a place people want to live, work and invest.
But last night during a meeting to discuss a fire master plan, fire officials are recommending the city hire 16 more firefighters in the next decade, so there is enough manpower to deploy aerial trucks at all times to deal with a future increase in higher buildings.