The Town Council has adopted a Fire Department Master Plan that includes the future development of two new fire stations -- one replacement and one additional.

The council voted 5-0 on April 18 to accept the plan prepared by the town’s fire department administrators at the request of Town Manager Ken Buchanan.

Vice Mayor Tait Elkie and Councilwoman Cassie Hansen were absent from the session.

The most pressing need currently being discussed by the department and town officials is response time improvement. Currently Rural/Metro is not meeting the standards for response set forth in its contract with the town.

Fire officials say the relocation of Fire Station No. 2, now located on Saguaro Boulevard south of Shea, would remedy the response time shortfall.

The plan states that, “to provide effective service crews must respond in a minimum amount of time after the incident has been reported and with sufficient resources to initiate fire, rescue or emergency medical activities.”

According to the standard established by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), a fire department’s fire suppression equipment should be deployed with the arrival of the initial equipment within four minutes travel time on 90 percent of the calls.

The plan notes that while firefighting is a small percentage of the calls received, medical emergencies require equal response efficiency to initiate life-saving procedures in the minimum amount of time.

According to the master plan the response compliance of Station No. 2 was 75 percent during the 2011/12 fiscal year.

The town is currently studying two locations to relocate Station No. 2; one is on Shea Boulevard just east of Palisades, and the second is on Fountain Hills Boulevard at Muskrat Drive, just south of Pinto Drive.

“When (the station) is relocated to a more viable location, response times will improve and call volume should become more balanced,” the study indicates.

At that point it would be appropriate to study personnel needs at the two facilities, according to the plan report.

Looking into the future the plan calls for a third fire station likely to be located on property now owned by the town near Sunridge Drive and Desert Canyon.

At this time it is not known when it will be necessary to develop a facility at that site. It will depend on further development in the town’s western subdivisions as well as development of the former State Trust Land in the northeast portion of town.

In response to a question from Councilman Henry Leger, Fire Chief Scott LaGreca told the council it would cost $1 million to $1.5 million annually to operate an additional fire station.

However, he emphasized that the conditions that would require the third fire station would reflect considerable improvement over current economic conditions.