While fire department officials work to convince residents they would make good neighbors, there remain some who do not want a new fire station adjacent to their neighborhood.

The town sponsored the first of two public open house meetings on Dec. 2 to answer questions about a planned fire station near Fountain Hills and Shea boulevards.

While it was clear some of the residents would prefer the town look elsewhere for a new location, town officials were equally clear that the site for the facility is settled.

Fountain Hills Rural/Metro Fire Chief Randy Roberts told the audience of about 15 that they wanted input on what steps to take to be the best possible neighbors.

Roberts said they will do all they can to be responsive to residents’ concerns.

They have already committed to working on a design that blends with residential architecture. There will be no outside radio speakers and they will minimize the use of flashing lights and sirens.

However, Roberts indicated they are required to use lights and sirens on all emergency responses.

The station is expected to receive four to six emergency responses on a 24-hour shift. There will be six firefighters assigned to the station, including ambulance crew.

Architecturally the facility would be a single- story building with three equipment bays. There would be parking for about 15 cars.

Diana Stagg, who lives a couple of blocks away on Mustang Drive, was direct in her comments, saying they did not want a fire station in their area. She said they are noisy and they did not want to hear sirens at night.

Sherman Abrahamson, whose home on Saguaro Boulevard backs to within less than 100 feet of the current Fire Station No. 2, said he has lived there for seven years and has had no such issues.

“We never hear the trucks,” Abrahamson said. “These are really good people and very considerate. We have never had an issue.”

Roberts said he has had only one complaint about noise from Station No. 2 and that related to a back-up bell on an ambulance. He said firefighters actually pushed the ambulance into the bay to eliminate the bell sounding.

A man who lives on Muskrat Drive across Fountain Hills Boulevard from the site of the planned new station said he used to own property in Gilbert that he leased to Rural/Metro for a fire station.

He said as the property owner he never had any complaints from the neighbors about noise or other issues.

However, as a person with experience with leasing property for such use, the man wondered whether the town could find vacant commercial property along Shea that could be used rather than going to the expense of building a new station.

Roberts said there is in fact a very small envelope of property along Shea that would serve their purpose, and there is no vacant commercial in the area.

The problem is that the existing Fire Station No. 2 has some response times in the range of eight to 12 minutes, well beyond the five minutes Rural/Metro is contractually obliged to meet.

Also, the station handles only 20 percent of the call volume in town. The new site would expand that to around 40 percent, a much better balance of resources, according to Roberts.

“This is a public safety issue that the town needs to address on behalf of all residents,” Roberts said.

Town Manager Grady Miller expanded on Roberts’ point, saying the council has a responsibility to all citizens in the town to be sure they provide balanced emergency response to all parts of town.

He said the council has had discussions in public about the relocation project and staff has been directed to move forward using this site.

Miller said the council is very concerned about any issues that neighbors have and they want to work to resolve problems up front.

He said that is why the meetings were called (a second session is scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 6, at 6:30 p.m. at Town Hall).

On Dec. 2, the same day as the open house, staff met with about a dozen architectural firms to discuss their requirements related to an RFP for the design contract for the station.

The current schedule calls for the architectural selection to take place in January or February. The design schedule would take place between March and October, with the construction bidding process to take place in November and December of 2016.

Construction would then take place during the 2017 calendar year with work expected to take the entire year.