City officials broke ground on Station 23 on Thursday, marking the start of building the first Wichita fire station since 2009.
The station is in southwest Wichita at Pawnee and Maize and is expected to open next year.
City council approved a $5.25 million construction budget for the station in March.
Ted Bush is the president of Local 135 of the International Association of Firefighters. He said the new station has been a longstanding need.
“Minutes, seconds, matter when there’s a fire, and I hope everybody understands that’s why we need these fire stations around the city,” Bush said.
In a news release Thursday afternoon, Bush said the expectation nationally is that firefighters can reach a scene within a four minute window.
Station 23 will also have a separate decontamination area and alarm that progressively increases in volume and brightness of lights, also known as a cardiac-friendly warning system.
These are meant to support firefighters’ health, Fire Chief Tammy Snow said.
“It will give our firefighters a modern facility designed around the realities of today’s fire service and provide the resources they need to train, prepare, and respond,” she said.
Bush said the new station will serve as a blueprint for the city’s next fire stations.
On Tuesday, Bush told the city council that public safety needs to be a consideration as the city plans further development. He pointed to a double fatality fire on Aug. 10 near the new station’s site.
“That station could have been the difference in the outcome of that fire,” he said.
At the same meeting, council members approved the 2035 Downtown Wichita Action Plan, which aims to increase housing, amenities and recreational opportunities in the city’s downtown. Bush said the city should update its fire protection plan alongside the development.
Already existing fire stations around the city need repairs, too. In February, Station 15 in east Wichita closed for mold remediation. A 2025 environmental study on the fire stations found that 18 of the 22 stations had visible mold. Action has since been taken on some of these stations.
In February, Bush told KMUW the firefighters’ union has been raising concerns about the quality of the fire stations for years. On Thursday, he said he is not aware of any plans to upgrade the resources in existing stations.
Station 23 reflects the beginning of a commitment to improving fire protection in Wichita, Bush added.
“This does need to happen around the city, and this is just our first step,” he said. “So, seeing the fire service be elevated here in Wichita to where it should be is very exciting for everyone.”
