Liberty Lake Fire Station Plans Change
After years of planning to build a fire station at Liberty Lake to cut response times to the lake community, the Spokane Valley Fire District is now considering another option.
The new proposal would put plans to build an eighth station on hold, move an existing station and still improve service to Liberty Lake.
It would also save the district as much as $800,000 annually, said Valley Fire Chief Pat Humphries.
The plan calls for the closure of Station No. 3, at Appleway and Michigan, and construction of a new station on Harvard Road just north of Interstate 90’s Harvard Road interchange. A Liberty Lake station would not be built.
“The bottom line is we can’t afford a fire station on every corner,” Humphries said. “So we’re trying to get the most bang for our dollar.”
The new station would serve the Liberty Lake area, west to Corbett Avenue and north to the river. It would also provide secondary response to the area served by Station 4 in Otis Orchards.
Response times from the new station are projected to average between 5 and 6 minutes - including to Liberty Lake neighborhoods - slightly above the district’s 5-minute goal for fire responses.
Residents of the lake community have been begging Valley Fire to build a station in Liberty Lake for years. Response times from Station No. 3 currently range from between 7 minutes and 9 minutes on the north side of the lake to up to 16 minutes to the southeast side.
Building an eighth station at Mission and Molter would trim those times under the district’s goal in most cases, but would cost the district about $750,000. It would also require hiring and training 12 additional firefighters and buying a new $250,000 fire truck.
Additionally, Station No. 3, which was built in the 1950s and averages about one call a day, needs $40,000 worth of improvements.
“Our budget isn’t healthy enough to take that kind of hit,” Humphries said.
By combining the stations, the district would still incur building costs, but would only need to hire and train up to eight new firefighters. Buying a new truck would also not be necessary, Humphries said.
A truck purchased this year would be moved from Station No. 3 to the new station. Three firefighters would staff the new station 24 hours a day.
Station No. 3, which currently houses two firefighters, would be mothballed and could be reopened, Humphries said.
Construction of the Liberty Lake station was set to begin next summer as part of the district’s 10-year plan adopted in 1990.
Designs for the new station would be similar to those for the station being proposed at Mission and Molter. Construction on a new station will still begin next summer and cost about $89 per square foot.
, DataTimes