The Unified Government Commission discussed a plan to close the Fairfax fire station at a special session at 5 p.m. Thursday, May 7.
The Fairfax industrial Association opposed the move. Fairfax, an area in northeastern Kansas City, Kansas, employs about 10,000 people and needs a fire station in Fairfax, Melissa Clark, FIA executive director, told the commission.
Fire Chief Mike Callahan told the commission that the Quindaro Fire Station 5 could serve the Fairfax area, arriving at calls within 4 minutes.
However, the Fairfax Industrial Association took issue with those figures. Also, the FIA stated that the UG wanted to close Fairfax fire station 15 in order to staff the new Piper fire station without adding any more costs.
UG Commissioner Gayle Townsend questioned the 4-minute figure and was told it was a math computation, not from actual experience.
Earlier today, the UG sent out a news release about the Fire Department’s plans.
”We want our commissioners and our residents to see the progress we have made in stewarding our budget dollars while taking positive steps to increase staffing, improve readiness, and overall, to enhance firefighter and public health and safety,” Chief Callahan said in the news release. “As the leaders of the department, our priority is to prepare and equip firefighters to better address real-world challenges. We’re doing that in a variety of ways, including the deployment of new equipment and technologies, recruiting more highly-trained personnel, optimizing staff placement and developing a long-term plan to phase out old, unsafe and outdated facilities.”
According to the UG, the Fairfax fire station is the least active in the city, and station 5 from Quindaro would be able to respond to Fairfax.
Clark said at the May 7 meeting that no one would suggest that KCI airport do away with its fire station, and the Fairfax district is a heavy industrial district with highly hazardous chemicals, volatility and environmental risks. There are 135 businesses there and over $5 billion in property, she said. One of the main reasons the fire station was built was because of more than 30 railroad crossings in that area, some of which could delay response times, according to Fairfax officials. The FIA also expressed concerns for future growth of the area without the fire station. The Fairfax district contributes about $18 million to $20 million annually in property and utility taxes, Clark said.
The FIA and businesses there opposed the closure and said they needed more time to research information about past agreements with the UG, and they only knew about this proposal to close the station since April 2. Many offices were closed then because of the pandemic.
There was no vote at the special session, but at least six of 10 UG commissioners expressed an opinion that more time was needed to discuss the issue. One commissioner wondered if he would have voted for the construction of the Piper station had he known that it could result in the closing of the Fairfax station.
A representative of the International Association of Firefighters, Local 64, said that Local 64 is opposed to closing the Fairfax station and believes it would be a serious reduction in service. The representative said two other studies were done that agreed the Fairfax station should be maintained. New stations should be built to accommodate community growth, but none should be closed, according to the representative.
One resident said at the meeting that Piper is growing and deserves better coverage, deserves to have a fire station but not at the cost of what is happening in Fairfax.
There were no public comments in favor of closing the Fairfax station.
Commissioner Gayle Townsend said she would like to see the more time given to Fairfax businesses. Also, she favored allowing the UG administrator to explore other ways to fund the Piper fire station.
Commissioner Melissa Bynum agreed with Commissioner Townsend, and Bynum said she could not support closing the Fairfax station.
Commissioner Angela Markley said decisions should be made about the fire station in the context of the entire budget picture.
Commissioner Mike Kane said he wanted to put the station closure on hold until they figure it out. He said he believes it is the commission’s decision to make. He also supported having more meetings and discussions with Fairfax businesses and workers. He also said he felt it was terrible to pit the Fairfax fire station against the Piper fire station.
The discussion was part of a three-hour Zoom meeting. The Fire Department plan includes much more detail about fire service in other areas of Kansas City, Kansas, as well.
The meeting is on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHutbMMTFN8 and the fire station discussion starts about 22:40.
The UG’s news release is at https://www.wycokck.org/Home/News-Slider-Data/Small-Set-One/KCKFD-Continues-Great-Service.aspx.
There are many inconsistencies in the UG plan to close Station 15. They claim that Station 5 can take up the slack, but Station 5 is a fairly busy Station. If Station 5’s crew is out, the next closest is Station 1 at 6th and Armstrong; the next closest would be Station 14 at 2615 N. 27th and then Station 11 at 3100 State.
With all due respect to Chief Callahan, he has not been around long enough to know what determines which Station could take up the slack for the absence of Station 15. There are a lot of variables to take into account for determining this, some of which are these: railroad crossings in the Fairfax area, traffic patterns, topography, and the distance responding fire apparatus would have to travel. Chief Callahan has a competent Command Staff to advise him on these matters, but the biggest factor in this decision would be that of the County Administrator, who tends to use budget as a factor in making decisions rather than the mission of the Fire Department.
When the then newly built Station 6 was opened in 2001, there was much discussion on how to staff that station. At that time it was pretty much determined that Station 11 could be closed without greatly affecting run times and patterns in that area of the city. A few things have changed since that time, the most significant of which was the Fire Department resuming EMS transportation and service in July of 2004. Other significant factors include the large buildup of commercial property in the area of the city near Kansas Speedway and the continued increase in residential construction and thus population in the Piper area of the city. This is in fact why the new station is needed. This also begs the question of why the new Fire Station 12 was not built northwest of the present Fire Station 8 at 3131 N. 123rd Street.
I feel the most sensible solution to this situation is to staff newly built Station 12 with a totally new fire company. The city has the resources to add this company already. The only glaring deficiency in this plan would be that a personnel increase of 15 new firefighter/EMT/Paramedics would need to be hired.
This company could be staffed with creative staffing from the existing personnel on the department until the new hires could be trained and educated to perform the duties required of them.
Having retired from the Kansas City Kansas Fire Department in 2014 with 31 years of service, I think I possess more than a little insight in this matter.
As one that no longer resides in KCKS I am hesitant to weigh in on the matter of closing the Fairfax fire station; that being said does not mean that I am not concerned about things that occur in my former home town. Knowing the complexities of the industries in the Fairfax Industrial district I cannot imagine the thinking of closing the fire station. I am in complete agreement with Mr Dusil on this matter and would hope that the UG would also do so.
There is another area of Midtown Kansas City, Kansas that will soon see rapid development of industrial, commercial, services and residential development in the area surrounding the Amazon Fulfillment Center near 65th and Riverview Avenue. It should included in any future budgeting and expansion of the Fire Department. The approximately boundaries of this now sparsely developed area are State Avenue on the north, south to the Kaw River. On the east, 61st Street is a boundary, the west to about 72nd Street. The closest fire station to this area is at about 62nd and State Avenue.
The Kansas Department of Transportation and the Unified Government have already begun a major re-design and expansion to the Turner Diagonal to accommodate the anticipate increase in workers, residents and trucks that will be serving all of the new business forecast to develop there. Adequate public infrastructure, including a comprehensive fire service proposal, needs to be a part of it.
A previous writer mentioned that he no longer resided in KCK , but still cares a lot about its future. This is true of me. It will ALWAYS be my hometown. And have authored two books about the city’s history and continue to be active with the Historical Society.