Tribute to First Responders: New fire stations in Lincoln

When emergencies strike, you expect First Fesponders to be there, but as Lincoln grew over the years, so did response times.

Parts of the city became under served.

"As we look at the stations across the city right now, we realize that many of them are in really poor shape. Some of them haven’t been updated in at least 60 years," says Ron Trouba, President of the Lincoln Firefighters Association. 

The city is working to change that.

Recently, a new Fire Station 11 was unveiled; the first new one in decades. Although, it wasn’t an additional station, just a replacement of an existing one. The old Station 11 used to be at the airport.

"Every time it leaves the airport, there is about a minute of response time that’s just wasted in trying to get to a major cross street, so we’ll save a minute on just about every response we go to now," says Chief Micheal Despain, Lincoln Fire and Rescue. 

And every second counts in this profession.

This station was paid for by capital improvement funds and municipal bonds. The next four stations built in the capital city are being funded by the quarter cent sales tax that will expire in October.

Station 15 will be a brand new addition and is hoping to be open in April of 2019. It will be located at 66th and Pine Lake Road and also be a joint facility, housing a new police team as well.

Both serving a booming area of the capital city.

"That growth means new sub divisions, new areas of town; it means slower emergency services, if you don’t expand your services along with the growth of the town. This is an example of the reinvestment of revenues into taking care of the problems that come up with growth," says Mayor Chris Buetler, Lincoln.

Up next, will be the relocation of Station 10, from 14th and Adams Streets to 24th and Superior. It’s expected to open by August of 2019.

Then, Station 12 will move, from 84th and South Streets to 84th and Pioneers Boulevard. 

Expected opening date? November of 2019.

"So if we can get to an incident quick enough, we don’t need other units to come in as much to back up. We can turn other units around and protect other parts of the city," says Despain. 

The last step of the plan, will be the addition of the brand new Fire Station 16. It will be located at 98th and O Streets and is expected to be opened around January of 2020.

"Citizens overall around town will be much better served," says Buetler. 

With the newly built stations, comes some much needed updates and new safety features, like a separate ventilation system.

"We have a place where we keep our turn out gear that will have negative pressure, so that as it off gases toxic chemicals and as we look at cancer rates for firefighters, those chemicals will be removed from the building through a separate ventilation system," says Trouba. 

And better living quarters for firefighters.

"We are trying to make a safer work place for our firefighters who are here 365 days a year. You know, a fire station never closes, from the day it opens until they stop using that building," says Trouba.

All of these changes will significantly improve response times, making Lincoln a safer place to live.