Fire department proposes new station to deal with huge number of West Side runs

One Cincinnati fire station in Westwood is going on twice as many runs as many other stations, resulting in slower response times and lots of overtime expenses. Officials are working to find a solution, including the possibility of building another fire station.

Of the city's 26 fire stations, Westwood's Engine 35 was the busiest in the city last year. Its neighbor, Engine 24, in West Price Hill, was the second busiest.

Combined these two stations responded to nearly 14% of all incidents in the city, nearly 11,000 responses in 2022.

A proposed new station would help the workload and improve response time on the city's West Side, but it will take time. City council members have said they want to address the issue, but no firm plans have been approved.

How did we get here?

The short answer is that the city is growing and Westwood is Cincinnati's most populated neighborhood, but that growth has been happening for years. The issue is being brought up now because of a technological change and a thorough review of the data.

Interim Fire Chief Steve Breitfelder spoke to Cincinnati's Public Safety and Governance committee earlier this month.

The department had completed a review of response times and found that times in Westwood, East Westwood, West Price Hill and Villages at Roll Hill had been impacted by a change last year to an automatic vehicle locator system.

Westwood's Engine 35 on Harrison Avenue also serves parts of North Fairmount and East Westwood along with the Villages at Roll Hill.

The automatic vehicle locator system uses real-time vehicle location data to decide which vehicle to send on runs. It made response times better in many places in the city, but in Westwood the number of responses skyrocketed, Breitfelder said.

This prompted the department last year to place a second fire engine, called Engine 1, in the same station as Engine 35.

Despite potentially halving the work of the Westwood station, Engine 1, Engine 35 and West Price Hill's Engine 24 remained the three busiest engines in the city.

The department identified a possible location for the new station at Queen City and Boudinot avenues and created a map with new coverage areas.

Breitfelder said the new station would reduce the number of runs for Engine 35 from about 6,700 a year to about 4,500 a year and would lower the number of runs for West Price Hill's Engine 24 as well. He said this would be far more sustainable.

What are the response times?

An analysis of response times in 2022 found about 18% of responses took more than six minutes in the neighborhoods of East Westwood, Westwood, West Price Hill and Villages at Roll Hill.

Another 37% of responses took between four and six minutes.

The average response time in the entire city for 2022 was just under four and a half minutes. Fire officials would like that average closer to four minutes.

The National Fire Prevention Association sets a benchmark of five minutes and 20 seconds for 90% of dispatched fire incidents.

Stations in Cincinnati respond to both fire and medical incidents, so making comparisons is difficult. However, in Westwood, East Westwood and Villages at Roll Hill more than 10% of responses were taking at least six minutes. In West Price Hill, that number is 7%.

Staffing issues remain even if new firehouse is built

The union president for the fire department, Matt Alter, spoke to the council as well. He said building the new fire station should be the city's highest priority, but staffing is critical as well.

The fire department is also about 360 firefighters short of full staffing, he said.

Alter said staffing Engine 1, the extra fire engine in Westwood, is done most through overtime.

A class of more than 50 recruits began the 32-week training process this summer and the city has budgeted for the next class as well.

"Our city is growing and that's a good thing," Alter said.

Fire officials are working to prepare a proposal to ask the city for money to address the new West Side station. At the council meeting, Breitfelder said they would be prepared to present that proposal in a few months.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Fire department proposes new station due to increased West Side runs