By Nancy Huddleston, Editor

The bottom line regarding improved response times for the Savage Fire Department is that more stations are needed.

But where will those stations be built? How much will it cost? How should the city finance the projects? When should the stations be built?

Answers to those questions were left unanswered when the Savage City Council reviewed a study of fire station response times presented Monday night (May 12). But the City Council did agree that a more detailed study will needed and should be included for funding in 2009.

Key is response

Savage has a volunteer fire department with 34 firefighters, a full-time chief and full-time fire marshal. Those 34 firefighters respond to either the Quentin Avenue or O’Connell Road fire stations.

A Fire Station Response Time Task Force has been meeting for the past nine months to wrestle with the multi-faceted issue of improving response times. The task force included two members of the fire department, Councilmen Gene Abbott and Al McColl and city staff. In the last few months, two concerned downtown residents – ****** Callanan and Mark Wilson – have also joined the group to offer input.

The introduction of the report says the purpose is to: “evaluate fire station locations, resources, equipment, staffing and deployment” and to “provide the mayor and city council with a road map that will assist with policy decisions, and to provide direction in the area of public safety involving the fire department and future emergency medical services.”

When Fire Chief Joel McColl brought preliminary results of the task force’s work to the City Council last summer, he was directed to go back to the drawing board and come up with a plan based on a blank city map.

The task force looked at a one-, two-, three- and four-station concepts. The top recommendation was a three-station concept that would leave the O’Connell Road Fire Station in place, close the Quentin Avenue Fire Station and build one new satellite station in the vicinity of McColl Drive and Alabama Avenue and another near 154th Street and Dakota Avenue.

Councilman McColl said the concept of using a blank map was good, but isn’t reality.

He also firmly said the downtown area needs a fire station.“If you take that fire station away, I have a big problem with that,” he said. “We’ve taken everything else away down there – the post office and city hall. And now we’re trying again? Plus we have the possibility of a large (residential) development down there, so I don’t know that taking the station away is a good idea.”

Councilman Abbott also acknowledged some concerns, saying he was uncomfortable with the top choice of moving the Quentin Avenue station up near the city hall campus. So he offered up what he called a “three plus” concept.

“I think it’s a good idea to have the Dakota/McColl study area because it offers a time factor that works well (in terms of response times),” he said. “I think we find a location up here and keep Quentin Avenue running to see if it is obsolete.”

Abbott also noted the Lynn and Quentin avenue bridges present a problem to responding to the downtown area if a station is moved out of there.

Councilwoman Jane Victorey asked about the Quentin Avenue station in terms of future repairs to the aging building.

McColl said the roof is in need of repairs, as is the plumbing. Annual maintenance costs are also increasing, as the station continues to need to be painted due to moisture problems.

Mayor Janet Williams noted that when the city held a Comprehensive Plan update for downtown residents last year, residents strongly urged keeping the station. She advocated another meeting to share the report with concerned residents so they are privy to all the details and work of the Task Force.

Williams also asked about how the downtown station factors into improvements on Quentin Avenue when a new signal is put in at Highway 13.

City Administrator Barry Stock said the signal likely won’t be in place until 2010 and further evaluation of other transportation needs is not completed as of yet.

Public perception

McColl also spoke about public perception when it comes to emergency response. “When they call 911, residents want someone there,” he said.

Currently, the two-station configuration leaves some parts of the city outside of the preferred seven-minute response time, he said. Those areas include western Savage (west of Highway 13) and south Savage (south of 150th Street).

Firefighters respond to stations based on where they live, McColl noted, not where the fire call originates. Right now, the majority of firefighters come from the central part of the community, which the report concludes would allow for “better response times” for the three-station concept.

When it came to preferences on the four concepts, the consensus by the City Council was that one central station (which would be located near the intersection of County Road 42 and Connelly Parkway) did not work. As well, council members commented, the current two-station configuration is not working, either.

But there are a lot of unknowns associated with the three- and four-station concept. Stock said it is not known if any of the preferred new sites would work for fire stations. Other unknowns: the cost of building stations, purchasing more equipment for each new station and for more land if the current city-owned parcels identified in the study don’t work.

Council members agreed with the conclusion that further study is needed.

Stock recommended a consultant be hired next year to take the task force findings and refine them in terms of possible station locations, space needs, total costs (building and equipment) and a timeframe.

 Nancy Huddleston can be reached at editor@savagepacer.com.