Austin City Council to address lack of fire stations

A lack of fire stations has put several areas in Austin at a high safety risk. It's an issue Austin City Council plans to address during its regular meeting today.

For the past several weeks the Austin Firefighters Association has been sending out thousands of flyers informing people about the need for more fire stations and asking for support for the resolution.

The resolution would develop a short term plan to build and staff five critically needed fire stations and immediately add two temporary ones.

The stations would be built in Travis Country, Del Valle, Loop 360 in Davenport Ranch, Goodnight Ranch and Canyon Creek.

A couple of months ago, Austin city staff laid out a timeline of 10 years for the construction of all five stations with Del Valle and Travis Country at the top of the priority list.

The temporary stations would act as a placeholder while construction of the permanent one takes place.

The major issue is the price tag. The president of the Austin Firefighters Association says it would cost nearly $86 million for all the stations.

City Council will also be looking at other items on the agenda including improving Waller Creek and putting the Code Next petition on the November ballot.