SASKATOON -- There’s no firm timeline when shovels hit the ground, but the Saskatoon Fire Department is eyeing two new fire halls to better cover the city’s west end.
“This district here, it’s a very busy district,” said fire chief Morgan Hackl.
On Monday May 11, Hackl presented a report to the city’s planning and development committee showing data collected pertaining to service coverage in areas across Saskatoon, and identifying challenges the fire department is facing with a growing city.
Right now, Fire Station No. 2 on Deifenbaker Drive is the only fire hall covering the majority of the west end - one of the busiest response areas within the city, according to the fire department’s Strategic Facilities Plan.
Hackl said adding two new fire halls to the city’s west end would help the department meet the national standard of a four-minute travel time to an emergency. Currently, Hackl said the department is falling short of that target in some areas.
“To the north of station number two we had close to 500 incidents that we weren’t achieving the four-minute travel time and in the south of the district we had about 300,” Hackl said. “The piece that’s really concerning is the calls to the east, between station one and two.”
The fire chief said those two stations have a little bit of overlap between them, however because of the high call volume and the distance from the fire halls, the fire department isn’t meeting its target.
Hackl said the fire department is examining two new fire halls - one located north of 33rd Street West and a second new hall in and around 11th Street West.
He estimates each fire hall would cost approximately $6 million not including the fire apparatus and other equipment.
One of the new fire stations would have a new fire truck, requiring the staffing of 20 firefighters divided among four shifts, while the other station would use one of two existing fire trucks at Fire Station No. 2, Hackl said.
Hackl said he is bringing a city-wide fire department plan to city council in December, outlining the department’s needs as the city continues to grow.
