Oak Harbor firefighters pulled a 79-year-old woman from a house fire last week, just in time to save her life.

After getting the 911 call, it took firefighters less than three minutes to get to the Southeast Sixth Avenue residence, where they found the woman and her 92-year-old husband inside.

They were too late to save the man.

It would have been a double fatality, however, if the house was on the other side of town, according to Fire Chief Ray Merrill.

“She would be dead,” he said. “Absolutely. There is no doubt.”

In Oak Harbor, fire and medical response times is the longest for the southwest quadrant of the city, where most of the residential development is going. It averages about five minutes.

According to the National Fire Protection Association standard, it should be less than four minutes.

Cutting that extra minute or two is the motive behind Merrill’s push to build a second fire station in the southwest area of town.

There are many hurdles to overcome. Before a new fire station can be built, the city will have to purchase a suitable piece of land, officials will have to figure out a way to pay for the additional staffing and the voters will have to pass a bond.

The project will also need support from the city council, which isn’t a sure thing. Councilwoman Beth Munns and Councilman Rick Almberg, in particular, have asked a lot of hard questions about the proposal. They are concerned about the cost to residents, especially in light of other increasing taxes and fees — including sewage rates set to balloon to fund the new sewage treatment plant.

At a meeting about a feasibility study, Munns said she wanted to be sure the city looked at all the options before bringing a proposal to voters.

“I’d hate to see this thing go down in flames,” she said.

Almberg said he’s interested in exploring the option of working with North Whidbey Fire and Rescue to cover the area of the city.

The problem, Merrill said, is that the response from either North Whidbey Fire’s Heller Road or Zylstra Road fire station would actually be longer than Oak Harbor’s response from the fire station on East Whidbey Avenue.

Statistics show that Oak Harbor has long spent less on fire services than comparable cities.

Oak Harbor Fire Department’s annual fire report looked at fire departments in 10 other cities to create a “comparable cities best average.” The other cities are Aberdeen, Anacortes, Arlington, Burlington, Moses Lake, Mukilteo, Mount Vernon, Port Angeles, Tumwater and Walla Walla.

The most significant statistics is probably the fire protection cost per person; “fire protection” not only includes response to structure fires, but car accidents, medical calls and other emergencies. The average per capita cost is $159. Oak Harbor spends $92 a person.

The average operating budget for the fire department is $3.2 million. Oak Harbor’s is $2.1 million. The average percent of a city’s general-fund budget spent on the fire department is 14 percent. Oak Harbor spends 10 percent.

On the other hand, Oak Harbor residents make significantly fewer calls for service than the average.

Merrill said the way the fire department has been able to keep costs down is to limit the number of “career” firefighters by relying heavily on paid on-call firefighters, who are similar to volunteer firefighters but are reimbursed for a portion of their time.

Last year, the city council approved the first new career position in the department in 19 years.

Statistics show that fire response times in the southwest area of the city are too long, Merrill said. It will also get worse, he cautioned, as residential development continues in the area.

Under the National Fire Protection Association standard, the response time should be less than four minutes for at least 90 percent of all calls. The Insurance Service Office’s standard sets a 1.5-miles radius from stations to calls.

The City Council set the city’s standard at a maximum of five minutes.

Average response times on the west side of the city are already at the five-minute mark or even exceed it.

A study by a consulting firm showed that 24 percent of homes in Oak Harbor are outside of the four-minute and the 1.5-mile standards. Most of the western half of the city falls outside of the standards.

A new station on the west side, however, would bring the entire city within the four-minute standard.

The response time affects the city’s fire rating, as set by the Washington Surveying and Rating Bureau. The city’s protection class rating is currently at 4, but could be in danger of declining because of response times, Merrill said.

A good rating will save money on fire insurance for many business owners and homeowners, which will help outset any additional taxes for a new fire station, officials said.

The exact cost of a new fire station is unknown, but a consulting firm is currently working on an estimate. City officials are also negotiating with a property owner to purchase a possible site.

The current proposal is for a 7,500-square-foot building with a three-bay apparatus garage. It would be staffed by a combination of career and paid-on-call firefighters.

In addition to helping with response times, a second station with another engine company would help at the times when two or more calls come in at the same time. That happens about 9 percent of the time, Merrill said.

Yet it’s also unclear how the city would fund the extra firefighters at the second station. A four-person engine company, Merrill said, would cost about $700,000 to $800,000 a year.

It’s that question that troubles Almberg. He said he doesn’t want to see the city build a new fire station and then not be able to afford to staff it.

Almberg said he would likely support putting the question of a general obligation bond on the ballot someday, but only if it’s coupled with a maintenance-and-operation levy to fund the new engine company.

The ballot measure will likely have to wait until next year, Merrill said. But he hopes that many of the details will be firmed up this year. He plans on presenting the results of a second-phase of the feasibility study to council in the next couple of months. That should include cost estimates.

After that, Merrill said he’s going to the public with workshops to explain the issue and hear what residents have to say.

Photo by Jessie Stensland / Whidbey News-Times Firefighters practice putting out a fire at a practice burn on the west side of Oak Harbor last weekend.