MEDICAL LAKE—City residents can now expect much quicker emergency response times for medical and fire needs, according to Fire District No. 3 Chief Cody Rohrbach. District No. 3 opened Station #311 on Dec. 1.
The station is adjacent to city hall and houses at least two firefighters around the clock. Rohrbach noted that calls for service within city limits and just outside the city can now be responded to from a station within the city. Previously, Fire District No. 3’s closest station was in Four Lakes.
“It added about 4-6 minutes of response time,” Rohrbach said.
The construction of the station has been discussed since Medical Lake was annexed into Fire District No. 3 in August 2019, and construction began in late spring.
Before annexation, there was a volunteer fire department in the city. Calls for service received no fire response 26% of the time, Rohrbach said.
“The volunteer department did a good job. It was just too much to ask,” Rohrbach said, noting that most volunteer stations are on call, which can add 7-9 minutes to response times.
The Fire District typically responds to about 700 calls for service a year from Medical Lake. About 80% of those are medical calls, Rohrbach said.
Not only does the new station improve fire response times and ensure a 24/7 emergency response within city limits, it allows for firefighters to sleep and cook at the station, which they previously couldn’t do.
Roughly three or four firefighters could be at the station at once, Rohrbach noted. There are three beds, a kitchen and a lounge area with cushioned seats and a large flatscreen TV.
“On about 90% of our calls, we send two people,” he said.
If there are more calls for service at any given time than firefighters available for effective response, Rohrbach said they will rely on response from the Four Lakes station and mutual partners from Fire District No. 10, Airway Heights Fire Department, Fairchild Air Force Base and Cheney Fire Department.
There are three apparatus at the station currently, while another ladder truck will be moved to the station “soon,” Rohrbach said.
Oftentimes, calls for medical service are COVID-19 related, but Rohrbach noted that the district hasn’t had one work-related COVID case.
“We try to sanitize everything that’s touched daily,” he said.
There are 150 members of Fire District No. 3. 24 are career-based staff, while the rest are part-time paid or volunteers.
Workers work 24 hours on, then 48 hours off. Part time paid-staff Jacob Malone said the district has a calendar where members can sign up for shifts.
“I have another job, so I can kind of create my own schedule,” Malone said.
The new Fire Station No. 311 can be seen on Lefevre Street next to City Hall.
Drew Lawson can be reached at [email protected].
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