Fire Station Construction Project - Site Selection Summary
Selecting the optimum location
Selecting the optimum location
This story map was created to accompany a hypothetical case study showing the use of Location-Allocation analysis for siting a facility. Click the link on the header bar to view the case study.
To improve emergency response times across the city, the city council has budgeted for the construction of a new fire station in the coming fiscal year. Phase I of the project was to identify the optimum location for the new fire station. These maps present the site selection process and the final decision made by the city council.
This map shows the city boundary along with the locations of the three existing fire stations and schools within the city limits. Click a fire station or school to identify it.
The city council directed staff to look for lots that are already owned by the city and are vacant, in order to avoid purchase and demolition costs. The vacant, city-owned sites had to have several other characteristics to be viable locations for a fire station: at least two acres in size; on gentle slopes; outside of flood zones, dam inundation zones, and environmentally sensitive areas; near a major street; more than a mile from an existing fire station; and more than 1000 feet from a school or library. Using computer maps and analysis, city staff identified eight lots that met the minimum requirements. The adjacent map shows these sites, along with the features listed above.
Once the suitable sites were identified, city staff performed additional computer analysis to identify which combination of four fire station locations—the three existing fire stations plus one of the eight suitable sites—most improve the coverage of the city, given a four-minute travel time from fire stations. Three measures were used: the total population covered within four-minutes of a fire station, the total value of structures covered within four minutes, and the total miles of streets covered within four minutes. (The four-minute travel time time was derived from a standard developed by the National Fire Protection Association).
The analysis identified one site that, in conjunction with the existing fire stations, results in the greatest improvement in coverage on all three measures overall. This site—known as Site 26—is the proposed location for the new station.
![]()
The adjacent map shows the area within a four-minute drive time of an existing fire station (light red area) and the additional area covered with the new station constructed at Site 26 (dark red area). Site 26 is shown as a purple square.
Following the initial site selection process, the results were posted at the city's website for a 30-day public review. (See the maps created for the public review process and learn more about how the potential sites were evaluated.)
Comments received during the public review indicated that residents living in the central and eastern portions of the city believed the new fire station should be located in their area since even with the new station built at Site 26 many of their neighborhoods would still be farther than a four-minute drive time from a fire station.
At the direction of the city council, staff followed up with residents in this part of the city to identify additional potential sites for the new fire station. Since all suitable vacant city-owned sites had previously been identified and evaluated, the search focused on vacant privately owned lots. Two lots in the central-east section of the city met the minimum requirements for a location for a fire station. These sites were then evaluated on the three coverage measures (population, value of structures, and miles of streets). The Ridgeview Site increased the coverage on all three measures to a greater extent than the other site.
City staff compared the improvement in four-minute drive time coverage provided by building the new fire station at the privately-owned Ridgeview site (red square) to the improvement provided by building the station at the city-owned Site 26 (purple square).
The comparison showed that building the station at the Ridgeview site would cover a slightly higher percentage of the value of structures in the city than would building a station at Site 26. However, a station at the Ridgeview site would cover a lower percentage of the population and of streets.
![]()
The adjacent map shows the area within four minutes of a fire station if the new station were built at the Ridgeview Site (area shaded red) or at Site 26 (area outlined in purple).
The city council reviewed the comparison of The Ridgeview site and and Site 26. After considering the cost and time involved in obtaining the privately-owned Ridgeview site, and the fact that fewer people would be covered than with a new fire station at the city-owned Site 26, the city council decided to build the new station at the Site 26.
This decision was backed up by the Director of Public Safety who reported that historical incident data shows that the highest risk area is the high population density area between Station 51 and Station 53. Building the new station at Site 26 will reduce the load on Station 51. An environmental consulting firm is currently conducting a site analysis and will be preparing an environmental impact report for the new station.
This map shows the number of people per square mile, by census block. With the fire station located at Site 26, 67% of the city's population will be within a four-minute travel time of a fire station.
The adjacent map shows the areas within a four-minute drive time, eight-minute drive time, and twelve-minute drive time of a fire station, including the new station. While much of the city is within a four-minute drive time of a fire station--including the densely populated western and southern areas, portions of the city are more than four minutes from a station. However, the vast majority of the city is within eight minutes, and all streets in the city can be reached within twelve minutes. The Director of Public Safety has noted that in many rural areas, a fifteen-minute response time is the standard. Much of the portion of the city more than four-minutes from a fire station is indeed rural or semi-rural.
The city council, in consultation with the Director of Public Safety and the Planning Director, will continue to evaluate emergency response times in the city. Additional fire stations may be constructed as the need requires and funding becomes available.
|
City of Poway, SanGIS, Bureau of Land Management, Esri, HERE, Garmin, NGA, USGS, NPS | Zoom In Zoom Out ![]() |
An error has occurred |