Deltona outlines plan to replace, add and modernize fire stations to improve response times

Deltona Fire Chief Bill Snyder told the City Commission on June 30 that the department plans to replace at least two aging stations, renovate others and add two new facilities to improve response times, firefighter safety and operational capacity.

Snyder said the proposal would raise the city27s number of stations from five to seven and that detailed cost and funding discussions would take place during the budget process. "Cost and funding will be discussed at a later meeting, probably when budgets being done or as we get a better idea of actual costs of this project," Snyder said.

The plan responds to several operational pressures, Snyder said: call volume that rose from about 8,000 calls in 2010 to just under 12,000 in 2024; many stations built in the 1970s and 1980s; limited bunk and bathroom space for a changing workforce; constrained equipment storage; and travel times that exceed National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) travel-time recommendations.

Snyder provided several performance metrics: at the 90th percentile Deltona27s alarm-processing time from county dispatch is roughly 3 minutes and 3 seconds, turnout time is about 1 minute 42 seconds, and travel time averages 6 minutes 49 seconds, producing a 90th-percentile total first-arrival time of about 10 minutes 20 seconds. By contrast, NFPA guidance for travel time for a first-due engine is four minutes and NFPA expects a full complement of 17 responders on a structure fire within eight minutes.

A consultant analysis by Dark Horse that Snyder presented models how…