FAQs

If the Rosland parking lot location is chosen, the fire station would be located on the north end of the east parking lot. A parking ramp would be located on the South side of the East Parking lot.

Yes, Bloomington, Richfield, Saint Louis Park, Eden Prairie, Minneapolis, and Eagan, just to name a few, have fire stations that are located in, or near, residential areas.  Edina Fire Station 1 is in a residential area.  

As part of the fire station build, there would be a parking ramp added to reflect the needed parking during the summer months. The ramp would provide direct access to the park and the aquatic center with stacking at entries/exits to allow for better traffic flow. The parking lot can currently accommodate 230 stalls.  The proposed parking structure increases the current parking capacity to 300 stalls.

1. There will be minimal impact to the surrounding area. No park amenities will be lost. Should the Rosland parking lot be the selected site, the construction schedule would accommodate the pool peak season, remaining open and uninterrupted. 

Sirens are a concern for neighbors. Sirens are used with emergency lights to move traffic during an emergency response and/or life-threatening emergencies where time saves lives.  When the emergency is not life-threatening staff respond non-emergent with no lights or sirens.  Staff are currently completing a siren study to provide data on the decibel level impact for our vehicles.

Currently, traffic flow into the parking lot and park can be congested and backed up at peak times.  As part of the design a traffic study would be warranted, if the site was selected, to improve traffic flow and safety. 

The Station 2 service area primarily serves the SE quadrant and provides backup to all other quadrants.  The proposed station will serve the same service area as current Station 2. 

The old Station 2 would be closed. There are no plans for the building or property at this time. 

Current apparatus would be utilized in the new Station.  New Equipment such as firefighter gear decontamination, vehicle exhaust management systems, and other station specific equipment would be included in the design budget once a site is selected.  The station will be designed anticipating increased demand for services into the future.  All staffing decisions will be based on demand for services.  Currently, the SE quadrant has the largest demand on our service, however, the current Station 2 can only accommodate the staffing needed for one ambulance. 

Current Station 2 has 1 staffed ambulance with no ability to expand for staffing to accommodate the current call volume.  The proposed station would be constructed to include space for Fire apparatus staffing, ambulance staffing, and Community Health staff.  The design would include forecasting increased service demand in the future utilizing current response trends. 

There were 3,093 total calls in 2021 for the SE quadrant.  The graph below shows a breakdown of calls per hour in 2021 .

The apparatus leave many times from the station and only use lights and sirens when responding to a life-threatening emergency.  Vehicles use an audible siren and lights which provides warning to other vehicles and pedestrians of an emergency response.  Not all responses are considered life-threatening. In 2021, there were 3,093 Fire or EMS calls in the SE quadrant. After removing non-emergent responses, 2,018 of these calls warranted an emergent (lights and sirens) response. 

• From 8am to 8pm crews averaged 4.27 emergent responses each day
• From 8pm to 8am crews averaged 1.26 emergent responses each day

Our ambulances are staffed with Paramedic Firefighters. This means that the ambulance carries fire gear and responds to all fire calls (in addition to medical calls) in the service area with a fire engine.  Currently, the fire engine is responding from Station 1 and meets the Station 2 staff on the scene of fire calls. The construction of a new Station 2 will not increase the call volume, rather, place apparatus in better response positions to respond to the emergencies. 

The City will work with a Construction Manager and Architect to determine design costs.  The construction costs will vary pending site location.  Estimates for building construction of a fire station range from 20-25 million. 

The operating cost comparison can be completed after station design.  As it stands, the new Station 2 needs to increase in size to accommodate the Public Health Division and staff to respond to emergency calls.