Santee's interim fire station opens today -- Tuesday.
The $2 million facility will have one engine -- relocated from another station -- and three firefighter-paramedics.
"There are areas we run seven-plus minutes in that part of the city. Our goal is to have a response time less than six minutes, 90% of the time, Fire Chief Harley Wallace told CBS8.
The move comes a year after voters rejected a half-cent tax increase to build a permanent station.
There hasn't been a new firehouse since 1964, when the city had about 11,000 residents. Now, there are about 60,000.
Wallace doesn't believe other similarly sized city in San Diego County operates with just two stations.
The department responds to more than 10,000 calls annually, including about 7,200 within city limits. Roughly 80% are medical emergencies, with the remainder involving brushfires, vehicle crashes and other incidents.
The city's plan to build a three-bay fire station hasn't been scrapped just yet.
