(video) Fire department seeks new station to cover areas in south part of city

The Lakeshore Drive fire station is the city's southernmost station. The Hot Springs Fire Department's capital improvement plan calls for building a station farther south, near the Hot Springs Mall. - Photo by Richard Rasmussen of The Sentinel-Record
The Lakeshore Drive fire station is the city's southernmost station. The Hot Springs Fire Department's capital improvement plan calls for building a station farther south, near the Hot Springs Mall. - Photo by Richard Rasmussen of The Sentinel-Record

The ratings agency insurers use to set premiums for homeowners coverage told the city it needed a fire station on the south side of town 30 years ago, a need that has become more urgent since recent annexations expanded the city south toward Lake Hamilton.

The larger service area has affected the Hot Springs Fire Department's average citywide response time, putting it over the five-minute industry standard. According to information presented to the Hot Springs Board of Directors last month, response times to structure fires in the recently annexed Twin Points Road and Lakeland Drive areas averaged 7:45 and 5:51, respectively, raising the average citywide response to 5:15.

"Therefore, our ability to respond to these areas within the response criteria outlined in (National Fire Protection Association Standard 1710) will at some time in the future negatively affect the city's (Insurance Service Office) rating," a handout outlining the fire department's capital improvement plan said.

Hot Springs Fire Chief Ed Davis said the city has an ISO classification of two, putting it near the top of the one-to-10 scale. Cities with lower ratings are deemed to have better fire protection than those on the upper end of the scale, meaning lower insurance rates for homeowners.

The Lakeshore Drive station is the southernmost of the city's five fire stations. The capital plan includes building a sixth station near the Hot Springs Mall. Davis told the board the new station could respond to calls in the newly annexed areas and south Hot Springs within the industry standard response time.

"We would have coverage all the way up to Timbercrest on Central, Twin Points and well into Burchwood Bay," Davis told the board. "We could even reach outside the city to Long Island."

The capital plan estimated a more than $1.5 million cost for a 5,000-square-foot station.

"It would be similar to the Lakeshore fire station, just a little smaller floor plan," Davis told the board. "It would have two apparatus bays instead of three."

The city has said revenue from its share of the tax on Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort's net gaming receipts could fund a new station and other capital projects. Revenue since the casino tax went into effect July 1 has almost doubled what the city received from its 1.5% share of net receipts from Oaklawn's games of skill.

The city plans to put 90% of the additional Oaklawn revenue in a restricted capital fund projected to receive $1.35 million next year, according to the 2020 budget the city board approved last week. The city projected earlier this year that the new tax structure will increase its Oaklawn revenue to more than $3.65 million next year.

"I think we can achieve the capital cost of building a new station," City Manager Bill Burrough told the board. "The challenge we'll have is finding a way to man that station long term."

The department projected $772,128 in annual personnel costs for the new station, paying for nine firefighters, or three per 24-hour shift, to staff the station. A $6.4 million general fund transfer will pay for most of the $10 million 2020 budget the board approved for the fire department. Forty percent of the city's 0.50% public safety sales tax also supports the fire department.

Local on 11/13/2019

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