Around the clock service at Fire Station 5 in Southwest Spokane began Monday afternoon.
The fire station on W. Eagle Ridge Blvd. now provides 24 hour fire and emergency medical service to Southwest Spokane. Fire officials said calls for service have been growing in southwest Spokane, with medical calls accounting for 87 percent of total emergency calls city wide.
In April, city and fire department leaders hoped the new station will improve response times. They expected the time to come down from 12 to 20 minutes to four to five minutes.
Homeowner in Latah Valley began pushing for a fire station in 2013. People who had lived in the area longer claimed the fire station was promised under old city leadership.
"I think the response time is always critical in any situation so having it right there having access to it is a huge benefit for the neighborhood," said neighbor Greg Ruff. In recent months, fire crews had been helping perform work on Fire Station 5 during the summer and served the area from Fire Station 11 until the station renovation was completed. Six firefighters working out of Station 5 are funded by a $2 million federal SAFER grant the city secured in 2014. The two additional firefighters needed to staff the station are being paid out of the existing Spokane Fire Department budget. Firefighters at Station 5 will operate as two-person units with firefighting capability.