INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indianapolis Fire Department proposes consolidating four stations into two as part of a cost-savings measure designed to cut $2.1 million from the budget by mid-2017.
Chief Ernest Malone unveiled the IFD 2016 Redeployment Effort on Tuesday. The plan outlines five points intended to improve asset placement and resource utilization.
Part of the plan includes consolidating Station 16 in the Butler-Tarkington Neighborhood with Station 32 in Broad Ripple Village.
According to IFD, Squad 32 will be converted into Engine 32, and the number of firefighters at the Broad Ripple station will be upped from 5 to 15.
Station 16 went on 1,336 runs last year. Station 32 was dispatched on 1,548. Consolidation likely will mean a much higher volume of emergency vehicle traffic leaving the station at the cramped intersection of 63rd Street and Guilford Avenue.
IFD's plan also includes consolidating Stations 52 and 54, and turning the latter into the IFD Fitness Facility.
In a statement Tuesday, IFD said the areas affected by the consolidations "will see no diminished coverage" based on national standards of the first arriving fire apparatus getting to the scene within 4 minutes 90 percent of the time.
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