Rochester is expected to need two new fire stations at some point after 2030, based on growth expectations.
However, Rochester Fire Chief Eric Kerska said he’s not ready to say when and where the new facilities will be needed.
“I recommend taking a wait-and-see approach,” he told the Rochester City Council during a presentation of the department’s new strategic plan.
The city now has eight fire companies working out of five stations.
Kerska, who became chief in June 2018, said he aims to annually update the council on the department's needs, giving the council time to plan.
He said population projections show the potential for added calls for service and the potential for longer response times.
The department now responds to an average of 81 calls per 1,000 Rochester residents. Kerska said trends show the number per 1,000 has been ticking up by one call each year.
At that rate, the department would see 92 calls per 1,000 residents in 2030, with projections showing a growth of approximately 25,000 residents.
Using the projections, the department estimates stations will start to become overwhelmed with calls by 2033.
“The population growth projections tell us how many people to expect, and thus how many calls to anticipate,” Kerska said. “”However, the projections do not specifically tell us where call volume will increase.”
While some of the department's response time challenges are on the edges of the city, the chief said he doesn’t want to assume that’s where future departments will be needed.
Today, he said the edges produce fewer calls for service than the city’s center, and areas with taller buildings and other challenges can also affect response times.
Kerska suggested more urgent needs should be addressed in the next five years, including adding two assistant fire marshals in 2020. In future years, he expects to ask for permission to promote three captains to battalion chief aids and hire six new firefighters over two years to make sure the department can respond to more than one house fire at a time.
He said the actual request to expand the department’s companies and fire stations will occur based on population growth. As part of the second phase of the department’s plan, he said the additions are likely to be needed between 2025 and 2040.
“Phase Two is triggered by calls for service numbers, not by a specific date,” he said. “We are predicting these dates, and we feel it will fall in there somewhere.”
Rochester City Council members voiced support for the plan but said they’d like added details for future budget discussions.
City Administrator Steve Rymer said more information will emerge once the plan is adopted by the council, likely later this month.
“The next steps are working collaboratively with all of us to look at different funding strategies,” he said.
The proposed addition of new assistant fire marshals in 2020 is not included in the current proposed budget, but the council is slated to discuss potential fee changes to fund the positions without using the property tax levy.
Council Member Patrick Keane said he appreciated the report but also wants to hear from the community to help identify needs filled by the fire department that go beyond responding to fire calls.
“The one thing I’d like to see more in this is the community members who say ‘This is important to me,’” he said, noting it would provide support for future council decisions.
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