The Prairie Township Fire Protection District is still seeking a solution to improve service and response times.
While voters in both districts last year shot down consolidation with the Lake Lotawana Fire Protection District due to a difference in property tax rates, Prairie Township Fire Chief Bill Large said consolidation is still Plan A, with Plan B being Prairie Township tackling putting a fire station on Wyatt Road in southern Blue Springs on its own. To figure out how best to resolve the situation, Large, who also serves as Lake Lotawana chief, said officials are reaching out to the community for feedback on how to proceed.
Large said the biggest issue the district faces is an extended response time for emergencies, which they were trying to address with consolidation.
The average goal for response times is approximately seven to eight minutes, according to Large, and the station is currently dealing with nine to 12-minute response times from its location at the Milton-Thompson and Langsford roads just east of Lee’s Summit, occasionally reaching the 15-minute mark depending on the distance of the call.