Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Safety Fire Department topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Pueblo City Fire Department outlines new stations, net‑zero design, staffing changes and mitigation work
Summary
City fire officials told the Pueblo City Council on Jan. 21 that three new fire stations are under construction with staggered openings in 2025, buildings are being designed to near net‑zero standards, staff conversions will appear on next week’s agenda, and mitigation and community‑risk work is underway.
Pueblo City fire officials updated the City Council at a Jan. 21 work session on the progress of four new fire‑station projects, staffing and accreditation work, wildland mitigation and other department initiatives.
The update said three stations are scheduled to open in 2025: Station 11 in June, Station 8 in July and Station 6 in December. Public Works project manager Andrew Hayes told councilors Station 11 is roughly "60‑ish percent" complete, Station 8 about "40‑ish percent" and Station 6 about 15 percent complete. Station 11 is located near 24 West 20th Street and Perry; the rebuilt Station 8 will move from Bonfort to a site on Jerry Murphy Road; and Station 6 will relocate to a site near East Fourth Street and Victory Lane.
The department said the existing Station 8 building will be repurposed for administrative and program offices, with truck bays used for equipment storage but not first‑response apparatus. The current Station 6 location will not continue as an active fire station; officials said no firm plans have been set for that facility.
Barb Huber of the Pueblo Fire Department described the new stations’ energy systems, saying, "All of these stations were designed to a net 0 standard, primarily." Each site will include a geothermal well field to heat and cool the buildings, and the only fossil‑fuel connection will be natural gas for backup generators. Huber said the city obtained three grants of $90,000 each—$270,000 total—to offset part of the stations’ energy‑related costs.
On staffing, Huber said the council will see an ordinance next week to convert the final three firefighter positions to engineer positions needed for staffing the new Station 11. She said six staffing positions (including captains and other ranks) were already added to the budget earlier this year. Huber and Captain Dan Jones, the department’s accreditation manager, said the department will open an academy around March 15 to fill newly created positions and will time promotions to coincide with station openings.
Jones discussed the department’s accreditation strategic plan and operational goals. He highlighted efforts to shorten turnout time (the time from notification to apparatus leaving the station) and said the department is working toward the national 90‑second turnout standard. Jones said the department’s 90th‑percentile turnout time (the time crews beat 90 percent of the time) is currently about 2 minutes 18 seconds and that improving turnout is a priority because it is one of the few intervals the department can control.
Community‑risk reduction work includes a recurring wildland mitigation program. Huber said crews performed mitigation that cleared more than 80 acres last year along areas including Mennoqua Lake, Fountain River and the Arkansas River and that the program will continue this year under a similar grant. She said the department’s outreach reached roughly 3,000 people through education events, and inspectors completed about 4,000 community inspections in 2024.
On overall workload, officials reported an estimated 26,000 calls in 2024; the department’s “directing others to services” program handled about 859 calls. Huber said call volume rose about 4 percent from the previous year but was similar to 2022 overall.
Councilors asked about coverage for outlying neighborhoods in Pueblo County and mutual‑aid arrangements. Huber said mutual‑aid agreements exist with county fire providers and the emergency services bureau organizes requests beyond the city boundary; she said the city typically responds to structural fires when requested by the county bureau.
The presentation also covered equipment and medical upgrades, including new electrocardiogram monitors and training and professional‑development changes tied to the accreditation effort.
Councilors and staff thanked firefighters for their work; no formal action was taken at the meeting on the station projects beyond the staffing ordinance expected on next week’s city council agenda.
