Buckeye plans three new fire stations, hires and training campus after bond passage

Buckeye will open two city-built fire stations and a public safety administration and training campus after a recently passed bond, Fire Chief Jake Rhodes said, and a developer-funded station will add personnel and capacity in the near term.

The bond will fund two new city stations — the Victory Fire Station at Acacia and Indian School Road and Fire Station 706 in the Westpark area — plus a public safety training ground and an administration facility, Rhodes said. The TerraVallis development will also initially pay for a separate station that brings additional firefighters to the department.

The funding matters because it immediately expands coverage and reduces response times in growing northern neighborhoods. "With the opening of 707, that was a big move for our department. The increase in service can be realized right away. Now we go into the bond and the support that we got. We get to open 2 more stations, look at public safety training grounds, and also public safety administration, both of which we desperately need," Fire Chief Jake Rhodes said.

Rhodes said Station 707, which opened in Blue Horizons, relieved nearby stations that had been covering the area. "That Blue Horizons area was really being serviced by 702 out on Rainbow Road and even 703 up in Verrado. So that's what makes a tremendous impact right away in response times and everything else," he said. He said the Victory site has already been acquired and architects are being selected for Victory and Westpark stations.

Personnel and timing details were given in the briefing. After approval of the TerraVallis development agreement, the department made 15 job offers; Rhodes said nine recruits will attend the academy next month and six are lateral hires. The department expects to staff the TerraVallis engine within about a year. For the Victory Station, Rhodes projected roughly two years: one year of design and one year of construction. He said the city is planning additional hires beyond those numbers as stations come online.

Rhodes outlined broader hiring projections and staffing needs. "So there's 30 people. We're looking at ladder staffing. We're also looking at the second battalion in this coming year," he said, later adding that over the next two years the department expects "probably 45 new employees, but probably more than that. Probably closer to 60." He also said 52% of current personnel have less than five years of service, which is driving demands for mentors, training and administrative support.

The administration and training facilities are intended to reduce travel for training by keeping more frequent programs local. "Having a dedicated training facility, that meets our needs closer means more frequent training, more, more reliability," Rhodes said, noting the department currently uses regional facilities in Glendale and Phoenix.

Rhodes described Westpark’s temporary station as a long-running interim condition: the crew has operated from a double-wide trailer in the West Park Elementary School parking lot since 2008. The planned Westpark Station site, he said, would give crews access to larger roads and reduce conflicts with school zones.

City leaders and Rhodes said land selection for the training and admin campus is still under discussion and that the design phase is underway. Rhodes said the city is exploring partnerships — including with school districts — to secure appropriate property for a campus that would also support recruitment and retention.

The remarks in this briefing were descriptive: they summarized intended projects, timelines and hiring plans tied to the bond and development agreements. No formal council motions or final construction contracts were reported in the transcript of this item.