MOSES LAKE — The city of Moses Lake will be adding a temporary fire station along Patton Boulvard, the interim step to building a permanent facility. Moses Lake City Council members asked for additional research on an option to install temporary housing as well for firefighters at a site at the Port of Moses Lake. 

Fire Chief Art Perillo said the goal is to improve response times.  

“The purpose of adding a third station in the north end of town is to improve response times to the businesses and residents in that area. Right now, Station 1 is 6.7 miles from the industrial park, an estimated 12-minute response,” Perillo said in answer to an email from the Columbia Basin Herald. “The temporary station would put us about five minutes from the industrial park, and about 3.5 miles (or) roughly seven minutes from the Maple Drive residential area, which is about the same response time that neighborhood gets from Station One today.” 

Perillo recommended a two-year lease on a building that could be modified to provide temporary housing, and an agreement with the Port of Moses Lake for a building that the port fire department uses for storage. Council members asked for information on the cost of longer lease terms, since it might not be possible to complete the project in two years.  

 “We don’t have a design at this point,” said Mayor Dustin Swartz. “So that severely handcuffs us.”  

Building a third fire station was one of the goals council members set for themselves, and councilmember Mark Fancher said the city should start working toward it. 

“We’ve got to light the fire,” Fancher said. 

Perillo estimated it would take 18 months to two years to design and build a permanent fire station. The temporary facility would bridge the gap, he said. 

A potential site for a permanent station has been identified. The ASPI corporation has offered to donate some land for a new fire station, Perillo said, located at the intersection of Loring Drive and I Street east of Patton Boulevard.  

“It would be possible to put the temporary station on that same site," Perillo said. "However, it comes with all the cost of the infrastructure associated with building the permanent station. That really increases the cost of getting the station up and running and increases the amount of time it would take for us to service that area of town." 

He estimated the cost of a temporary facility at the port would be about $375,000. A temporary station on Loring Drive would cost about $2.3 million, Perillo said, due to site preparation and other requirements.  

Because emergencies can happen any time, the fire station would be staffed 24/7. 

“In order to operate a third fire station, we would need 11 people,” he said.  

The MLFD hit that target 62 percent of the time in 2025, but 75 percent of the time in 2024. 

“The firefighter vacancies that occurred in 2025 were not immediately filled,” Perillo said in his email to the Columbia Basin Herald. “I expect to be at full staff by mid-October, which should result in a percentage closer to what was experienced in 2024.”  

The city has about $1.5 million in its fire mitigation fund, which is designed, among other things, to pay for facilities. Building a third fire station and a new police station are on the list of construction projects, but City Manager Rob Karlinsey said there are some complications. 

“What’s currently in the adopted CIP (Capital Improvement Plan) is a voter-approved bond measure to pay for both a new police station and a fire station. Given that you’re going to the voters this year for a sales tax and will need to go to the voters next year to renew the transportation benefit district – it's a policy decision, but I don’t recommend going to the voters for more than one thing per year,” Karlinsey said.  

That would mean any vote on a construction bond would be delayed to 2028, Karlinsey said. 

“Another way to pay for something without raising taxes is to increase the tax base, and one way to do through annexations up in the north end,” he said. 

But, Swartz said, annexation also is a process that lasts a couple years. With that in mind, council members asked for options on a longer lease.