TO: Mayor Richard C. Irvin
FROM: David A McCabe, Deputy Fire Chief and Daniel J Osman, Assistant Fire Chief
DATE: January 18, 2022
SUBJECT:title
A presentation to the Committee of the Whole highlighting the station location study. This report shows the best locations for current and future fire stations.
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PURPOSE:
The City of Aurora and the Aurora Fire Department (AFD) desire to provide the best care in a fire or medical emergency to all persons and properties in the city. By demonstrating where future AFD facilities should be built in order to do the most good, we can ensure we provide that same, or even higher, level of response and care to the city in its current and future state of devlopment.
BACKGROUND:
The AFD has a long history of providing professional, expert, and compassionate care to the citizens, businesses, and visitors to Aurora for over 165 years. As the city has grown over the past 30 years, the department has not grown enough to meet the increased demands for fire and emergency medical services (EMS) protection. This is especially true for the northeast and southeast portions of the city. The last new fire station added in Aurora was in 1998, when Station 12 was built at Eola and Hafenrichter. We ran 11,053 calls that year. In 2021, the AFD almost broke the 20,000-call mark (19,887), having only added one ambulance (Medic 7) to the response fleet, despite an 80% increase in call volume during that period.
Recognizing these facts, the AFD submitted a decision package for 2020 to conduct a station location study. Besides recognizing the importance of adding response personnel to the fleet, it was also important to make sure new and relocated stations could do the most good for the most people and properties.
Due to economic concerns, the study was delayed until 2021. The study has now been completed, and this presentation highlights what the study found.
DISCUSSION:
As the station location study shows, the present coverage for the east side of the city, especially the northeast portion north of Interstate 88, is severely lacking. Current response times to many calls in those areas exceed the nationally accepted guidelines set by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and Insurance Services Offices (ISO). By relocating two stations (Station #4 and Station #9) and adding an additional station to the city (Station #13) and staffing an engine, truck, and ambulance there, we will greatly reduce the response time to calls in the northeast.
Copies of the study will be made available to all of the aldermen at the time of the presentation.
IMPACT STATEMENT:
The citizens, businesses, and visitors to the northeast portion of the city, including the North Farnsworth Corridor are currently served by two primary fire stations. Station #9 (Engine only) and Station 4 (Engine and ambulance) both have responsibility to respond to the area of the city north of Interstate 88. Because of current station locations, as well as lack of access roads over the interstate and traffic considerations, the response time to these areas is much slower than recommended national standards, as well as the standards the AFD holds itself to. Relocating Stations 4 & 9 and adding Station 13 will greatly reduce the response times to emergency calls in these areas.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Now that the proper locations for the stations have been determined, the Aurora Fire Department, working with the Mayor's Office and other city departments, plans to begin the multi-year approved building plan to get these stations constructed.
cc: Committee of the Whole