New Gilbert fire station means faster response times

• Gilbert Fire %26 Rescue broke ground Friday on a fire station at Cooper and Warner roads.
• Chief Jim Jobusch predicts it will speed up response times in southwestern Gilbert.
• Fire station No. 7%2C to open in May%2C will replace the station at Cooper Road south of Guadalupe Road.
• The new station%2C to be a two-story%2C three-bay site%2C was designed by HDA Architects. It will be built by FCI Constructors.

Southwestern Gilbert residents will see quicker response times from the Gilbert Fire & Rescue Department once a new fire station opens, Chief Jim Jobusch predicts.

The department held a formal ground-breaking July 18 for Fire Station No. 7 on the site at 625 W. Warner Road, which is east of the southeastern corner of Cooper and Warner roads.

"We recognized that in the southwestern portion of Gilbert, we had some long response times, well beyond our standard," he said. "Our standard is four minutes or less."

In southwestern Gilbert, the response times were in the six-minute range.

The new fire station, expected to open in May 2015, will replace the current station No. 7 at Cooper Road south of Guadalupe Road.

The designer of the $5.7 million station is HDA Architects, and the builder is FCI Constructors. The structure will be a two-story, three-bay station.

The new fire station will impact the area from the Santan portion of Loop 202 north to Elliot Road, and Gilbert Road to the western line of the town. The furthest west part of the jagged western line is at Country Club Road/Arizona Avenue.

Town Councilman Victor Petersen told the crowd, "This expenditure is going to have a huge return on investment. ... This is going to help save lives. This will be a great benefit to our citizens."