Oak Harbor Fire Chief Ray Merrill is taking one small step forward in a project that’s been talked about for at least a decade.
He won approval from the City Council last week to advertise for requests for qualification to find a firm to conduct a feasibility study for a second fire station in the southwest quadrant of the city.
“Essentially we’re looking for a third party, with no connection to the city or fire department, to confirm what we already know,” he said.
What firefighters already know, he said, is that response times are too high in the areas farthest from the fire department.
Some housing in the southwest part of the city is as far as 3.2 miles from the station. It takes up to seven minutes for firefighters to respond, he said.
Councilwoman Tara Hizon said during a workshop last month that the proposal for a second fire station makes sense.
“Everyone in the city is paying for the same level of service,” she said. “And when someone is 30 seconds away and someone is eight minutes away, that’s not the same level of service. Period.”
Under city code, response times are supposed to be under four minutes for medical calls and five minutes for fires.