In West Lawrence, construction workers are laying the groundwork for improved emergency response times.

In September, building began on a 12,000-square-foot fire station at 18th Street and Wakarusa Drive. By next summer, firefighters at Station No. 4, 2819 Stonebarn Terrace, will move out of their historic building and into the new $2.5 million facility.

With another new station under construction at 19th Street and Stewart Avenue, Lawrence-Douglas County Fire & Medical Chief Mark Bradford said he hoped moving to southwest Lawrence could improve the time it took for fire crews to arrive at an emergency scene.

“We have areas in the city that have 10-, 12- or 15-minute response times,” Bradford said. “We’re trying to get our response time down to where it’s six minutes or less regardless of where we go.”

Once complete, the station on Wakarusa Drive will look almost identical to Station No. 2, 2128 Harper St. The facility’s layout provides access to the garage from the firefighters’ sleeping and living quarters. Bradford said that would reduce turnout time, from when firefighters get the alarm to when the truck leaves the station.

They try to limit that time to 90 seconds.

“We try everything we can to reduce that amount of time,” Bradford said.

The garage in existing Station No. 4 houses fitness equipment, one fire engine, a medic unit and a hazardous materials vehicle.

“It’s very narrow and for the type of trucks that are in there, it’s packed in,” Bradford said.

The new facility will offer a four-bay garage.

If Lawrence has a mild winter, Bradford said construction should be complete by the end of summer.