By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
The city of Hays has been considering the need for another fire station for at least the past 18 years. Chief Ryan Hagans knows that because it's how long he's been with the fire department.
It's actually been discussed since the 1990s, with different locations considered, according to city staff research.
Now that the city has an additional revenue stream through its share of the Ellis County sales tax, plans have finally come together and were shown to the public during an open house Wednesday night.
The other factor kicking the proposed project into high gear is growth, residential and commercial, in northwest Hays.
"It's just time," Hagans said during the come and go event at Thirsty's The Venue.
"You look at other towns our size, Dodge City, they have two stations. Garden City is looking at building their third station.
"We can get our equipment spread out and hopefully have a better response time to different areas of town. We can get a fire truck on scene in a real emergency, quicker, so we can go to work and help save property and lives."
The current response time to a fire emergency in Hays, from dispatch to arrival on scene, averages 4.5 minutes.
To keep response times short, the federal ISO (Insurance Services Office) recommends a local fire station be no more than 1.5 road miles from any area of the city.
The fire station in downtown Hays, opened in 1974 at 1507 Main, is further than 1.5 miles from the new development in the northwest part of the city. The city's other fire station, built in 2010, is at the Hays Regional Airport and is staffed only during commercial aviation operations. It's a Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) facility required by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
"We're doing really well with our response time," Hagans said, "but with the outer reaches of the community, the response times are going to get longer, especially up in that area of town."
According to Hagans, the city of Hays Fire Department is an ISO PPC 2 (Property Protection Classification), putting it in the top 2% in Kansas and the top 4.8% in the United States.
Another fire station in northwest Hays would enhance the city's ISO fire rating and could result in lower insurance rates for property owners, although the city has no control over that. Owners would have to check with their insurance agents.
The proposed station would be built at 1732 W. 41st, just east of the Highway 183 bypass, on land already owned by the city.
"We can just jump on the bypass and go. We'd be using major arterial streets," Hagans pointed out. "Downtown there's stop sign after stop sign, stop, start, speed up, slow down.
"One of our water production wells sits on that property. So the city bought it a few years ago (in 2016) to protect the water well and with the intention of building a fire station there in the future. And it looks like the future is about to commence," Hagans said with a smile.
The project will be funded by the 1/4 cent county sales tax approved by voters in 2020 for improving emergency services, with the city of Hays receiving approximately $700,000 to $900,000 in annual revenue for a period of 10 years. A portion of the city's share of that tax is already being used for quality of life projects.
Total project cost is estimated to be $5.5 million. There are no plans to hire more personnel or purchase additional firefighting equipment.
During the height of the coronavirus pandemic, the firefighters were split between the two facilities to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 among the first responders.
It became apparent both locations could be staffed full-time with existing staff.
The fire department has two aerial trucks and three engines.
"We may keep the ladder trucks downtown where there are taller buildings," Hagans thought, but he knows "there'll be a learning curve and the department will have to be flexible."
People attending the open house had questions and a few concerns, especially about more sirens and lights in the West 41st neighborhood. The city mailed about 100 notification letters to residents in that area.
Hagans said there is a misconception that fire trucks are blaring their sirens all the time.
"We're averaging 0.3 calls per day, less than one call a day, between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. that requires lights and sirens.
"We'll hit the siren at the intersection if there is a vehicle there, meeting people on the road, but just to utilize it when there's no traffic, no."
The fire department makes every effort to use lights and sirens only for life-threatening emergencies, he added.
The new fire house design was done by Richard Kraybill, of Kraybill Associates in Wichita.
The firm has designed about 12 firehouses in the Wichita area.
Kraybill said there's been a lot of input on the Hays project from local firefighters.
"The experts are the firefighters. This is a home away from home, not just a dormitory, and on holidays, their families may come to visit," Kraybill said.
The design proposal featured at the open house resembles a residential home with private bunkrooms (bedrooms) and bathrooms, a pitched roof, multiple windows, and large garage doors. The faƧade would be manmade limestone.
"It will have a near-residential character, rather than that of a civic building," stressed Kraybill. "Comfortable and easy to maintain."
There are 21 city firefighters, working in three shifts of seven on-duty personnel. The work schedule is 24 hours on, followed by 48 hours off.
The downtown location, which also houses the city's IT system, is prone to flooding. The IT equipment would be moved to the new proposed location.