The St. Joseph Fire Department got the go ahead from City Council Tuesday to look into building two new fire stations.

“We have proposed to the council some general areas where we feel the locations would best serve the community,” said Paris Jenkins, a Battalion Chief with the Fire Department.

He said station 9 at 22nd and Frederick and Station 11 at 18th and Walnut need to be replaced.

“The station at 22nd and Frederick while the location is not bad to service the community the station was built in 1899, designed for horses,” Jenkins said. “It is single bay and it does not meet the needs of modern fire apparatus.  The same is true for station 11, it was built just after 1900.”

Jenkins said the Council’s response was very positive, accepting the department’s study on the station locations.

“They were not in favor of hiring a consultant to come in and do the same study again,” he said. “They have asked us to proceed with the negotiations for land acquisitions.”

The department is looking at purchasing land for two new stations.

“We have a general area of town where we would like to set those stations but we don’t have anything that’s like ‘oh it has to be right here’,” Jenkins said.

The area of 22nd street somewhere between Mitchell Avenue and Garfield was recommended for station 11.  Station 9 was recommended to be moved to Frederick between 24th and 29th.

The city has budgeted around $6.75 million for the project. Jenkins said some funds are already there from fire department allocations like money from the sale of the Geiger Mansion originally donated to the city for use as a fire department.  Some funding will also come from the city’s Capital Improvements Program (CIP).

He said the next step in the project is the appraisal process.

“To make sure that the city is in a position so that we know the fair market value when we do our negotiations,” Jenkins said.