801 Crockett Street, Shreveport, Louisiana 71101
318/ 673-6655 ● FAX: 318/ 673-6656 ● www.shreveportfire.org

Kelvin J. Cochran, Fire Chief

February 25, 2002

PRESS RELEASE
To: Newsroom
For Immediate Release
Contact: Brian A. Crawford, Public Information Officer
Phone: 673-6652, cell: 455-2609, page: 675-2137

New Projects to Change Landscape of City’s Fire/EMS Service

The Shreveport Fire Department’s slate of capital improvements already scheduled and those forecast for the not-so-distant future are sure to change the landscape of how the city’s fire/EMS provider does business.

With financing already in place, thanks to last summer’s bond election, the department is scheduled to break ground on a new Central Fire Station in early September. The station will be located on the west side of North Common at Cross Bayou on land in front of Southwest Electric Power Company’s Arsenal Hill plant. The project, along with encompassing a state-of-the-art fire station, will also be home to the department’s administrative offices. Completion of the 4.6 million dollar project is projected for September 2003.

Also this summer and because of Central Stations northward movement, station thirteen, currently at North Common and Market Street, will be relocated to west Shreveport’s Steeple Chase neighborhood. The new station thirteen will be on Cotton Wood Drive across from Turner Elementary/Middle School. The addition of station thirteen to this part of the city will significantly reduce the department’s emergency response times in this growing region. Currently, the closest fire stations providing service to the area are at Pines Road and Jefferson Paige and Woolworth and Industrial Loop. Southeast Shreveport will also see a new station: twenty-two, projected for construction in 2003, it will be located on Southern Loop, between Wallace Lake Road and Overton Brooks. Funding of both stations, thirteen and twenty-two, was also made possible through the 2001 bond initiative.

Future capital projects that will have the department moving fire stations to more strategically necessary areas include the relocation of station two, in the 4500 block of North Market, closer to the MLK and I-220 interchange on North Market; station fourteen from the 3800 block of Greenwood Road closer to the area of Broadway and Greenwood; station fifteen from West 70^th and Despot to the area of 70^th and Jewella Avenue; and station seventeen from Mansfield and Southland Park to the area of Kingston and Bert Kouns. Station seventeen would be relocated in coordination with building a new station (twenty-three) in the area of Dean Road and Bert Kouns in 2004 or 2005. All of these projects are expected to be funded through Federal money made available through the new Homeland Security Office, Fire Act grant, or future bond initiatives.

New and relocated fire station locations were determined by a computerized department redeployment study. This study took into account area demographics such as population, number of calls, street access, and travel time, and was developed in accordance with Property Insurance Association of Louisiana (PIAL) and National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) standards. Obviously the Shreveport Fire Departments is not resting on its lofty Class One status and high public opinion but instead is looking for ways to further improve their service and meet the future emergency needs of area citizens. These capital projects are just one way the department is ensuring a safer tomorrow for the individuals, families, and businesses of the community.