Seven years ago Lawrence city officials prepared a plan to increase fire protection. The first phase of that plan should be finished sometime this month.

That’s when Lawrence-Douglas County Fire & Medical units will move into a new 8,000-square-foot Station No. 2 at 2128 Harper St. in eastern Lawrence. A fire truck and ambulance along with their crews now based at the old Station No. 2, 1941 Haskell Ave., will be relocated.

Several large city maps stored in a conference room at Fire & Medical headquarters, 746 Ky., outline the fire protection plan. Sections of the map show where the city’s population is expected to grow and where the response times for fire and medical units will need to be adjusted.

“We looked at this in 1994 and we said we’re going to have to add a station west and add a station east,” Fire & Medical Chief Jim McSwain said recently, as he studied one of those maps. “Or maybe we can move some of these stations around.”

So in addition to relocating Station No. 2, the plan also calls for moving Station No. 4 farther west. Currently, Station No. 4 is at 2819 Stonebarn Terrace. In 2006 it will relocate to Wakarusa Drive and 21st Street.

Relocating stations instead of adding two more stations will save the city about $1 million a year in personnel and station operation costs, McSwain said. And the city won’t have to buy additional fire trucks and ambulances.

The plan, however, does call for adding one new station. It will be built by 2005 on about two acres at the southwest corner of 21st and Iowa streets. That land is owned by the Kansas University Endowment Association, which has agreed to lease property for the station for $1 a year for 25 years with an option to renew the lease for another 25 years.

“For over two acres, that’s probably the most valuable empty piece of land in the city for a dollar a year,” McSwain said.

Leasing the land so cheaply to the fire department benefits both the city and KU, said John Scarffe, communications director for the endowment association.

“It’s a prime location for the city, combined with a plan to build a station out west,” Scarffe said. “It also puts the equipment closer to KU.”

Scarffe noted that a hazardous materials truck and a ladder truck will be at the station. That will put the ladder truck near KU’s tallest residence halls.

The relocation of stations and the addition of one during the next few years allows Fire & Medical to cover most of the city within a four-minute travel response time, McSwain said.

Four minutes is the fire industry standard response time and is used by insurance companies in setting rates, McSwain said. It does not include the time lapse between getting an emergency call and getting personnel onto a truck, he said.

It would be impossible, however, to cover all locations in the city in the four-minute drive time, McSwain said.

Property for the new Station No. 4 at Wakarusa and 21st already belongs to the city because it has a water plant in the area.

Purchasing the property for new Station No. 2 cost the city $119,000, McSwain said. Construction of the station was estimated to cost $1.45 million.

The old Station No. 2 will be retained and used for training. A fire training tower also is on the property.

In addition to relocating fire stations, Fire & Medical continues to look for ways to increase its response capabilities, McSwain said. An administrative reorganization is being studied and new equipment on the market is always being evaluated.

“All that certainly makes the job somewhat safer and helps us protect the public better, but it still comes down to putting the wet stuff on the red stuff,” McSwain said.