New fire stations, downtown headquarters among fire department asks to city

The Saskatoon Fire Department took its updated strategic facilities plan to the city planning, development and community services committee Monday.

Among the asks were up to three new fire stations, a new downtown headquarters location and a dedicated training facility. The first phase would begin following the next budget cycle, according to Fire Chief Morgan Hackl.

“We’re providing a good service, but we really believe that with a few of these efficiencies and then new stations in the future, that we can not only continue this good service but actually increase our service to the city. That’s very important to us,” he told 650 CKOM Tuesday.

Hackl pointed to the fire station on Diefenbaker Drive as one area that requires some work.

He explained that the station’s response times were lower than the benchmark they strive for, set at four minutes by the guidelines of the National Fire Protection Association.

“We need to look at changing our model for the west end,” he said. “North of the station, as many as 500 incidents are not being achieved in the four minutes or less travel time and south of the station, close to 300 incidents.”

In the report, the fire department says that “Saskatoon has grown significantly to the west since the opening of Fire Station No. 2 (in 1981). District 2 is one of the busiest response areas within the City.”

Hackl says the fire department is looking at keeping the existing station, but building two additional stations north and south of the location to meet that four-minute benchmark.

The report will be updated periodically by data-driven information, looking at population and growth over the updates, along with other factors related to servicing Saskatoon’s needs as a city.

When it comes to the new downtown station, Saskatoon Fire says the replacement is motivated by the facility’s age and “increasing maintenance requirements.”

That being said, the report states that the location of the facility creates an opporunity.

“(The) opportunity exists for potential partners in a combined facility,” Monday’s report reads. “One option for the replacement provides the opportunity for outside funding if non-market housing is incorporated via the National Housing Strategy (NHS). The replacement will support sustainable growth to densify the downtown and continue to meet operational needs; being the hub of the fire response model.”

Also in the report was the opportunity to relocate Fire Hall 7 on Wanuskewin Drive.

In the report, data was presented that indicated that Saskatoon Fire wasn’t meeting the four-minute benchmark “for emergency response into River Heights, Lawson Heights, and Silverwood Heights.”

The relocation would have “minimal impact” to those in the district, the report states.

Hackl says a final report is expected to be tabled in December to Saskatoon City Council.