BLOOMINGTON - The city is exploring whether to add nine firefighters and a new paramedic engine to a station in the northeastern part of the city to help improve response there.
The additional personnel for Station No. 3, 2301 E. Empire St., would cost about $1.25 million annually, and the new paramedic engine would cost an estimated $650,000. Both are being examined as possibilities for the city’s fiscal year 2015 budget.
Fire Chief Mike Kimmerling said the new vehicle and personnel essentially would reinstate a vehicle and firefighting team that Station No. 3 had until that team was reallocated to the then-new Station No. 6 to serve Central Illinois Regional Airport. He said that move "thinned out that coverage in the middle of the city."
Kimmerling said much of Station No. 3’s coverage area lacks the redundancy that could help improve the city’s insurance ratings. Redundancy is useful if a fire breaks out at a high hazard structure, such as a nursing home, school or hospital.
The station’s service area has several high hazard structures and a high population density, and the additional vehicle and personnel would provide that redundancy, Kimmerling said.
"Will it solve all our problems? No," Kimmerling said. He said the city’s biggest hurdle is simply the high volume of calls for service.
City Manager David Hales said that before city staff offers a final recommendation to the City Council, he wants to see if the city can project to what degree the proposal could help response times, which fail to meet some national standards.
He said a major task in front of the council is determining what level of risk is acceptable and at what cost.
The city also is looking at possibly purchasing in fiscal year 2014, which began May 1, a new aerial platform ladder truck for the same station at a cost of $1 million. Kimmerling said he would hope to reduce the financial hit by up to $500,000 by trading in two older vehicles.
The new aerial ladder truck would allow the city to put its current equivalent vehicle in reserve. It then could sell its current, 20-year-old reserve vehicle.
Hales said the city also is continuing conversations with Normal about a collaborative effort that could improve coverage of Bloomington’s northeast edge and nearby areas of the town.
Copyright 2013 The Pantagraph
