DeKalb poised to build 4th fire station on southwest side

By MEGANN HORSTEAD mhorstead@shawmedia.com

DeKALB – DeKalb Fire Chief Mike Thomas recently said that building a fourth fire station could help first responders shorten 911 call times on the city’s southwest side to 4 minutes, a gold standard for the department.

DeKalb city leaders are looking to improve the fire department’s response to calls for service coming from the city’s southwest side by building a fourth fire station on South Malta Road.

No vote was taken by the DeKalb City Council on Monday, July 24, although further discussion and action on a potential fourth fire station is expected when a fiscal 2024 budget is presented in August. The discussion was part of the city’s five-year plan for the fire department.

City Manager Bill Nicklas said the need for a fourth station is evident.

“A lot of our calls are going there and an increasing number are going in the southwest side not only to serve residents in that area,” Nicklas said. “There’s some commercial businesses, of course. But also the blossoming, burgeoning I guess you would say industrial investment on the southwest side of the community. … In looking at the 4-minute response coverage, we are deficient dramatically on the southwest side more than any other quadrant in the city.”

Thomas said a crew from fire station No. 3 at 950 W. Dresser Road can get to the southwest quadrant of the city in about 6½ minutes, station No. 2 in 7 minutes and station No. 1 in 8½ minutes.

The city’s fire department generally recognizes 4 minutes as the gold standard for response time as recognized by both the National Fire Protection Agency and Insurance Service Office, according to city documents.

Fifth Ward Alderman Scott McAdams said he would like to see that quality care by first responders is extended across the rest of the city to all.

“I would think it wouldn’t matter where you live,” McAdams said. “You should be able to call and immediately get to the hospital.”

Mayor Cohen Barnes questioned what happens if there are dual calls for service incurring at the same time.

Thomas replied, saying it’s a “whole domino effect” at that point.

The DeKalb Fire Department operates three stations across the city. Fire Station No. 1 at 700 Pine St., built in 1972, serves the central downtown and northeast side of DeKalb, according to the city. Fire Station No. 2 at 1154 S. Seventh St. was built in 1957 and serves the south side of the city. Fire Station No. 3, built in 1994 at 950 W. Dresser Road, serves the city’s northwest and west sides.

When a call goes out, one station’s crew might respond to a call while another station’s crew may be called in to provide mutual aid at that same geographical area in the original crew’s absence.

If a fourth fire station were built and more firefighters/paramedics were hired, more staff would mean 911 calls could be responded to more quickly and not take away first responder staff from other surrounding fire stations, city staff have argued.

In 2022, the fire department had

See FIRE STATION, page 8