Residents Worry Moving Broken Arrow Fire Station Risks Public Safety

In an emergency, every minute counts, and that's why some Broken Arrow residents are upset one of their fire stations is moving.

Broken Arrow moved fire station #2 to the south end of town back in December, closing a station that was 1,100 sq. ft and opening a station that is 11,000 sq. ft. They say they moved it to meet the needs of the development south of town, and that the city's other stations will help cover the old area where the station was previously, in the 2900 block of South Elm Place.

12/3/2012 Related Story: City Of Broken Arrow Opens Its Newest Fire Station

Residents close to the recently closed fire station #2 are worried the city is compromising public safety.

"Four or five minutes is a lot, especially in an emergency," said Broken Arrow resident Airen Faulk.

Karen Bissell, who has lived in Broken Arrow for 21 years, said, "[I'm] a little bit worried, because I have elderly neighbors."

Broken Arrow City Hall's Director of Communications Stephanie Higgins said the city understands the concerns of the residents, but it was simply more feasible to close the smaller station.

"Those response times have increased slightly, however, where the new station is, response times have decreased," Higgins said.

She said the goal is for a department to show up no later than four minutes after a call goes out. She said they should stay close to maintaining that standard, after redrawing each district for their six stations.

"We have station #5 that can come and help, central fire station can come, we have station #3 that's down on Elm," Higgins said.

The City of Broken Arrow passed a bond issue back in 2008 that shifted $3.5 million from a 2004 bond issue, to move the old station number #2 from South Elm, to it's new home on Norfolk, three miles south.

The new station also has direct access to the Creek Turnpike. Even with the new $3 million station, the Insurance Service Office says the city still needs five more.

The ISO also assigns fire protection ratings on each distinct, which are later used by insurance agencies to calculate fire insurance costs.

The scale is from one to 10, with one being a top rating.

"The ISO rating is a two within the city limits, and there aren't many other stations in Oklahoma that can say that," Higgins said.

She said the city has continued to increase its staff and the department's budget, in hopes of adding a seventh station in the future.

"I think that shows our city and our administration cares about public safety," Higgins said.

The city says there were also plans to renovate the old station #2, but that was delayed after money from the Vision2 sales tax fell though.

A date for the seventh station has not yet been set.