A response-time study by the Ames Fire Department and city planners show that Ames is in need of a third fire station.

Ames Fire Chief Clint Petersen said a recent response-time study showed that the current fire stations are unable to achieve the goal of a five-minute response time to 85 percent of Ames residents. Currently, firefighters are only able to reach 79 percent of the population in that time.

“In order to reach the city council’s goal of 85 percent, we need to add another station,” Petersen said. “Another station would raise that number to 91 percent.”

So far, he said, the new station is tentative.

“At this point, the city council has approved the conceptual plan,” Petersen said. “It doesn’t mean it’s going to go forward.”

The city council will prioritize four major capital expenditures in December or January.

In addition to the proposed fire station, it includes a multi-million dollar transportation plan, an aquatic center and the development of a local quarry into a park.

After these tasks are prioritized, a final decision will be made on the fire station, Petersen said.

“The station is nonessential by state law, so it must go through a vote,” he said. “It would be funded through bonds, and it needs a 40 percent vote to pass.”

The new station would improve response time in the southeast quadrant of the city, south of the railroad tracks, he said.

“The station would be at the corner of South Duff Avenue and Airport Road,” said Paul Sandoval, deputy chief of the Ames Fire Department. “The ground is currently a state nursery.”

Sandoval said the station is necessary to accommodate the recent growth in Ames.

“The city has expanded in many areas. Our last station was added in 1969 in the Welch Ave. area, and the population and geographical area of the city have expanded considerably,” he said.

Currently, the fire department responds to approximately six calls a day, Sandoval said. The department employs 45 suppression personnel and has two front line engines and one front line ladder truck. The department also owns two fire emergency medical service trucks, Petersen said.

If the new station is built, the department will hire three additional employees and purchase one more EMS truck. The ladder truck will be moved from Station 1, 1300 Burnett Ave., to the new Station 3, Petersen said.

The proposed station would accommodate the current increase in growth but is probably not a permanent solution, Sandoval said. “Depending on which way the population grows, we will eventually have to consider building a fourth station or relocating a station after time,” he said.