Fire Stations Project

Fire Station #5 | Fire Station #6 | Firefighter Statue | Background | Standards of Response Cover Analysis | Press Releases | Groundbreaking | RFQ Information |

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New Fire Stations

The City of Vista began construction on two new fire stations in January, 2008 and the stations are scheduled for completion in early 2009. An artist's rendering of each new station of the new stations follow.

South Melrose Fire Station (Fire Station No. 5)

Fire Station No. 5 will be located at S. Melrose Drive and Green Oak Road.

FS 6 Progress Photos

September 2008.

Wildwood Fire Station (Fire Station No. 6 )

Fire Station No. 6 will be located on E. Vista Way, between Escondido Ave and Franklin Lane.

FS 5 Progress Photos

September 2008.

Firefighter Statue

The Vista Firefighters’ Association is excited to share with the community an artist's rendering of a unique firefighter/child statue on the site of the new Fire Station #6, located at 651 East Vista Way, to be completed in spring 2009. The proposed bronze sculpture of a firefighter and a child will be created by artist Thomas King and funded by the Vista Firefighters’ Association and through community events and public donations. The Vista Firefighters will also be selling engraved plaques that can be personalized and will be placed at the statue site. Thomas King is a well known local artist whose sculptures are located throughout our community. We are very excited that Mr. King has decided to donate a considerable amount of his time to the design and creation of this project which has allowed us to make this project a reality. Our goal is to raise $30,000 by March of 2009 when the statue will be presented to the community with the opening of the new Fire Station. It is the hope of the Vista firefighters that this statue will serve as a reminder to all firefighters and citizens, now and in the future, of the unique relationship of trust that is given to us to protect, serve and educate the citizens of our community.

If you are interested in donating, please see the attached form or contact Rick Delaney at rdelaney@cityofvista.com or visit www.vffa.org.

Background

The City is currently served by four fire station locations which provide firefighting, advanced emergency medical services and technical rescue responses. As the City has grown, the four fire stations are challenged by demand for service. In addition, the Fire Department serves properties in the 19 square mile Vista Fire Protection District, which includes unincorporated areas of San Diego County.

As a comparison, Carlsbad has 6 stations with 6,000 calls for service, equating to 1,000 calls per station. Oceanside has 8 stations for 10,500 calls, equating to 1,300 calls per station. Vista currently has 4 stations with 8,600 calls, equating to 2,150 calls per station (numbers are rounded).

It is critical to have emergency crew's on-scene of an incident within 7 minutes 90% of the time, to achieve a good outcome. Total Response Time can be broken down into 4 components:

1. Recognition of an emergency, notification to Dispatch Center 0 Minutes
2. Dispatcher processes the call 1 Minute
3. Dispatcher notifies stations, crews prepare to leave 2 Minutes
4. Crews drive to scene (under ideal conditions) 4 Minutes
Total: 7 Minutes

STANDARDS OF RESPONSE COVER ANALYSIS

A Standards of Response Cover Deployment Analysis was conducted to evaluate the fire department's ability to provide minimum levels of service and to establish objectives. The purpose of the Analysis was to evaluate and identify staffing, station locations, and equipment placements, relative to call loading, access impediments, community risks and expectations, and response times. In summary, some of the main findings of the Standards of Response Cover Deployment Analysis are:

1. Given the response time information and the risks present in the City and the Fire District, the Analysis recommends revising response time standards to achieving a 7 minute response 90% of the time.

2. The department dispatching is outstanding, achieving 60 seconds or less 90% of the time.

3. There is not adequate primary or overlap response coverage in the higher response workload centers of the city. The light rail line will exacerbate long response times.

4. Statistical analysis of historical response times show the Vista Fire Department's (Department) total response time from the dispatcher starting to notify the staff and arrival on scene is only within six minutes 51.6 percent of the time.

5. Further statistical analysis shows an extraordinarily high level of simultaneous calls for service. At least two calls for service occur 52 percent of the time, and at least three calls for service occurring nineteen percent of the time.

6. The Department has inadequate station spacing, in that there are not enough fire stations spaced across its area to provide the best outcome response times and to back each other up in a timely manner when back-to-back calls for service occur at the extraordinary rate of 52 percent.

7. Construction of a fifth station in the mid-town area, somewhere around city hall, would help fill the gap between Stations 1 and 2 as well as help absorb the high call load in the central part of the city.

8. If the District constructs a new Fire Station, relocate Station #3 (Old Taylor Street) to the northern Fire District Area, which will provide better spacing and balance for station distribution.

9. Adding a sixth fire station in southwest Vista, near Shadowridge and Melrose will reduce response times, and improve resource depth throughout the city, but especially in the southwestern area that currently has poor response times.

10. Utilize current staff for one station. Additional staff will have to be hired to staff the other additional station.

Press Releases

05/02/07 - City to unveil rendering of fire station at community meeting

11/16/06 - Request for qualifications sought for new Vista fire stations

11/08/06 - City moves forward on Prop L-related projects

Groundbreaking Ceremony

The groundbreaking ceremony for both new stations was held on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at the Wildwood Fire Station.

For more information on the Fire Stations Project, please contact Aly Zimmermann at (760) 639-6131 or alyz@cityofvista.com.