Two senior fire officials on Friday called that a reminder that the city needs a bigger force.
Nearly a quarter of the city's 405 firefighters battled the six-alarm blaze at Third and Mosley. It remained under investigation Friday.
To help out, some staff from the Sedgwick County Fire Department filled vacant posts at city stations.
More than 100 Wichita firefighters are on duty at any time, city Fire Marshal Ed Bricknell said.
But ideally, firefighters union leader Doug Pickard said, Wichita should have a total firefighting staff of 525. He cited a National Fire Protection Association recommendation that fire departments respond to 90 percent of calls within four minutes.
Pickard said city statistics show that 90 percent of fire calls were responded to in 6 minutes and 19 seconds or less in 2003.
"You can never have too many" firefighters, Bricknell said. "I think sometimes when we have big fires like this, it brings to light the need to have more firefighters."
Bricknell emphasized that during the blaze Wednesday night, "we had ample resources to take care of the fire and the city."
"We just don't have enough people to staff all the equipment we have," said Pickard, president of the International Association of Firefighters Local 135.
Fire Chief Larry Garcia agreed that the department could use more people but is managing well.
"I don't know of any fire chief who would say they don't need more people," he said. "I'm not going to say that, either.
"The simple fact is that major departments, particularly those in major cities, just don't have the finances -- the budgets, if you will -- to have a fire station in every neighborhood."
In 1976, when the city was 34 square miles smaller, it had 424 firefighters, Garcia said.
It hit a low point about two years ago, when the ranks dwindled to 378, he said. They've begun to rebound as the city has bought millions of dollars in new equipment and relocated five stations to provide better response time, Garcia said.
And the city budget for 2005-06 calls for seven more firefighters in 2006, with an emphasis on "understaffed areas of Wichita."
Pickard said the city is well equipped with plenty of firefighting vehicles, but needs a few more stations and about 120 more firefighters to protect Wichita adequately -- at least according to National Fire Protection Association guidelines.
That's the recommendation for a four-minute response to nearly all calls.
"It's very unlikely that a lot of cities will ever be able to meet that standard," Garcia said. "But the good thing is that we are attempting to do that in every way we can.... We're probably as good as, and maybe better than, most cities the size of Wichita."
A decadelong makeover of Wichita's Old Town area has sprinkled popular bars and restaurants around old industrial sites. Some of the industrial sites, like the Murdock Cos. properties scorched Wednesday night, are still operating.
The Murdock properties last passed fire inspection in 2002, Bricknell said.
He said city code requires all buildings that house hazardous materials to sport placards on their exterior walls to tell firefighters what might be burning inside.
"It's a good approach," said Gary Keith, a vice president at the Massachusetts-based National Fire Protection Association. A lot of cities use the placard method, he said.
Keith said restaurants and bars that spring up in rejuvenated industrial districts are typically safe -- provided that adequate safeguards, including proper exits, are in place.
Wichita fire codes ensure that such measures are taken in new establishments in Old Town, Bricknell said.
Plus, he said, the city keeps records on the hazardous materials kept within city limits. He said he wasn't sure what kinds of materials are kept in Old Town, and attempts to reach Wichita's hazardous materials unit were unsuccessful Friday.
"There's always a potential for some chemicals (to be) stored in the businesses there now," Bricknell said. "We take precautions to prevent anything from happening."
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