Prescott leaders report progress on fire stations, response times and police staffing under strategic plan

City Manager Dallin Kimball told the Prescott City Council on Oct. 14 that staff are advancing multiple public-safety items in the city's strategic plan, including sites and contracting for two new fire stations, a new training tower, targeted temporary staffing to reduce response times and continued work to fill newly authorized police positions.

The update asked the council to consider contracts for design, land purchase and construction of a training tower and noted that staff have identified sites for two strategically located stations. "We have settled on sites for both of those, and they are right in the bull's eye of our coverage maps, which is gonna improve our response times," Fire Chief Holger Dura said.

Why it matters: The strategic-plan goal discussed by staff is to have 90% of fire responses within eight minutes. Council members and staff said the combination of new facilities, a temporary 40-hour engine company and technology upgrades is intended to move that metric.

What staff reported: Dura said the department placed a "40 hour additional engine company in service starting on August 18. So engine 76 is actually in service part of the time about 2 and a half years prior to the fire…