The reality is the west side is stressed, both north and south. Those are the words of deputy chief, Mike Ralston with the Saskatoon Fire Department in a report he prepared for council recently. The focus of the report is priorities and service improvements for the coming years.

On the priorities list are two new fire halls for the city’s west side. That’s because according to data, the area is experiencing the longest response times. The downtown and the west side make up for 50 per cent of service calls to the fire department while district two north, which consists of Kensington, Dundonald and the majority of Hampton Village among other neighbourhoods, is experiencing the most out-of-range calls for service.

The price tag for the two stations is around $15 million dollars, excluding land costs. The hope is to have the two fire stations online by 2027.

Clae Hack, the City’s Chief Financial Officer says staff will bring back funding options at a later date.

“The next steps are for finance to report back with some funding options. As it is right now, as you mentioned, it’s an ambitious timeline, they are key priorities, so we’ll bring back what a funding plan could look like. Right now, there’s a couple million dollars within existing funding plans but we’ll be looking at some other options to fulfill the whole scope.”

The list of priorities was approved in principle by council.

Currently the western edge of the city is served by Fire Hall No. 2 on Diefenbaker Drive.