Background

The Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District (District) Board of Directors approved a Fire Station Replacement Program on March 19, 2003 that will result in the construction of 8 new fire stations within a period of approximately five years. The total cost of the eight new fire stations is estimated to be about $50 million. This total includes costs for site acquisition, design, permits, construction, and related expenses.

The purpose of the Fire Station Replacement Program (Program) is to actively address a number of serious deficiencies with existing fire stations including age and condition issues, non-compliance with present day building codes including the ability to respond to emergencies following an earthquake, and lack of sufficiently sized apparatus rooms for present day emergency response equipment storage needs. Another important objective of the Program is to improve emergency response to the District’s citizens while utilizing existing District resources more efficiently. A final objective of the Program is to maintain a secure and accountable fiscal approach to the District’s present and future emergency response needs.

The Program is the first phase of a Fire Station Master Plan that was reviewed and approved by the Board of Directors in March of 2002 after an extensive yearlong public involvement planning effort. The opportunity to create a Fire Station Master Plan was made possible following the consolidation of the Sacramento County Fire Protection District and the American River Fire Protection District into the present day Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District. The consolidation of the fire districts allowed for an assessment of service delivery throughout the new district without regard to the old jurisdictional boundaries.

The locations of the new fire stations were selected utilizing a four-step process. The following is an excerpt from the Fire Station Master Plan that describes the site selection process:

“The first step used simple geometric figures of circles and diamonds drawn over a base map of the Sacramento County. This allowed a quick view of existing fire stations and their relationship as a system of emergency resources. The second step used the FLAME software to run theoretical response times over GIS (Geographic Information System) mapping. The third step used CAD Analyst (Computer Aided Dispatch Analyst) and ADAM (Apparatus Deployment Analysis Module - A Deccan Intl product) to integrate actual incident performance history into the master planning methodology. These two powerful programs allow staff to analyze modeled performance of possible Fire Station locations and compare alternate locations against selected performance criteria. The final step included reviews of site selections by senior staff members who had working knowledge of District field operations based on their years of experience in particular portions of the District.”

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