Alderman Aaron Perry looked for two items when he first saw the news release regarding last week's house fire on the city's far southwest side.
If anyone was injured and the Fire Department's response time.
Thankfully, no one was hurt in the fire that is believed was ignited by a lightning strike during heavy early morning thunderstorms June 25. Perry saw that the response time it took to arrive at 1653 Moccasin Trail was just under 10 minutes.
With the Waukesha Fire Department stating its response time goal is seven minutes — meaning its crew should be able to arrive at a scene within this time frame from any of its five stations — Perry wants to see improvements.
"It's not a knock on the Fire Department and in fact I am impressed with Chief (Jesse) Alba, but as the population increases and the geography of our city changes, we have to make sure the services are met," said the District 12 alderman.
District 12 is where the single-family residence fire occurred and why Perry wants to work with Alba and city officials to pursue relocating Station No. 3, 1210 Sentry Drive, the nearest station to this area.
Perry addressing this issue is no surprise.
When asked what the people in District 12 want to see addressed in an interview before he was elected alderman, Perry said "the fire response time issue." He said he would accomplish this by getting Station No. 3 relocated closer to the district, most likely on the land off Oakdale Drive.
"This is an issue on the minds of residents as I've seen going door to door," Perry said at the time. "This is an issue of safety and making sure the residents of this area of the city are represented fairly in regards to services provided by the Fire Department."
Station No. 2 was first
Alba is in agreement with Perry and said the department has been studying relocating Station 3 for the last few years, and that was part of a package to relocate Stations No. 2 and 3.
Alba, however, said despite the Council supporting both relocations in 2011, voted to just approve the move for Station 2, which at the time was also outside of the seven-minute response goal, from 1701 Stardust Drive to 1714 Pearl St.
"(Some of District 12, including Moccasin Trail) is the last area that has the extended response times that isn't quite at 10 minutes," Alba said. "That is one of the areas south of Waukesha West High School."
He said the department has taken a proactive approach in working with the city administrator, the Community Development Department and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.
Need to find land
But Alba said the only holdups right now are finding the right location, preferably just southwest of its current location, and the financial support.
"We have to be economically mindful and coordinate with other things in our community such as the Highway 59 bypass," said Alba, who added land would have to be purchased along with a proposal given to the Common Council on how a new location would be beneficial.
Nevertheless, he said he is very confident that "we would have the support of the Common Council."
"I don't believe there would be roadblocks, so the opportunity will be there," Alba said. "We have a lot of support, but we just have to find the right circumstances to move. The economy is recovering so that will help from a capital perspective, so I believe it will be more of a matter of when we relocate. We just have to find the time and place to make it happen."
Preventing more damage
If it does in the near future, Perry is confident it will eliminate the amount of damage during future fires. The initial estimate was that the fire resulted in $75,000 worth of damage. The assessed value of the house before the fire was $718,000.
Perry stopped by the house last week and while he hasn't heard any complaints on the response time from the homeowners and said he knows "a relocation is quite an undertaking," he's making it his focus.
"If it would have been five minutes earlier there would have been less damage and less of a cost," said Perry, who recently did a ride-along with the department. "I'm not trying to spark an outcry, but I want to spur the talk on action."
Alba agrees and wanted to compliment his department.
"I'm very pleased with the department's performance as the firefighters made a great stop," Alba said. "It could have been much worse and was a pretty positive outcome for what could have been a pretty tragic incident. While you could say it's a $75,000 loss, I challenge that it was a more than ($640,000) save."
City growing
Station No. 3 has been at its current location since 1981.
At that time, Alba said it met the residents' needs. But as he points out, the department has to change along with the city.
"The city has gotten a lot bigger, especially with the annexations you hear where people are coming into city," Alba said. "We can expect more growth and many are on the south end of the city so we're looking at moving that station a little bit southwest to better serve that part for current residents and the future. That's the goal."