Fire department mulling new and relocated stations

Saskatoon’s fire department is eyeing a slate of new capital projects over the coming years, including a new downtown headquarters and up to three new fire stations.

While the department’s priority remains an out-of-town training facility, which could be requested in the city’s next budget cycle, its data-driven approach has identified multiple other needs.

Two of the new stations would supplement Fire Station No. 2 on Diefenbaker Drive, which covers much of the west side, while the third would relocate Fire Hall No. 7 from Wanuskewin Drive.

Fire Chief Morgan Hackl told city council’s planning and development committee that both areas are not meeting the department’s four-minute benchmark call response time.

Department data shows that 16 per cent of calls in the northwest don’t meet that benchmark, while 12.4 per cent in the north and 6.2 per cent in the south of the area covered by Fire Station No. 2 fall short.

Relocating the north end station would “significantly” improve response times to neighbourhoods including Lawson Heights, River Heights and Silverwood Heights, he said.

Building new stations north of 33rd Street and near 11th Street and Avenue W would “drastically” improve responses to the city’s growing west side, Hackl said. Fire Hall No. 2 was built in 1981.

Hackl said the department would move one firefighting apparatus from the existing west side station to one of the new stations, and staff the other new build with 20 new firefighters.

The department is also exploring options, including one that incorporates National Housing Strategy-funded non-market housing, to replace Fire Station No. 1 on Idylwyld Drive.

A report to the committee notes that the department’s headquarters, which opened in 1964, needs replacing owing to its “age and increasing maintenance requirements.”

“A creative business plan for this location will support the Imagine Idylwyld initiative and future plans for downtown,” Hackl said of the idea, similar to those in Calgary and a few American cities.

It is not clear exactly where the new fire stations would go, or how much they would cost to build. The department is expected to report back to council before the end of the year.

Hackl has previously said first phases of a new training facility would cost in the “lower millions of dollars.”

The city is expected to spend $680 million on capital projects over the next two years. Council has recently endorsed several other fire station relocations.

Fire Station No. 3, which cost just under $9 million, opened on Clarence Avenue near Stonebridge in 2018, replacing the Taylor Street location.

A second is expected to be built on Preston Avenue by 2021. It will replace Fire Station No. 5 in Sutherland and be constructed on land leased from the University of Saskatchewan. The department aims to report back annually on calls, response times and potential gaps.