BROKEN ARROW, Okla — After a community discussion regarding emergency response times in undistricted areas, Coweta will make monthly payments to the Broken Arrow Fire Department so they can respond to areas that may be further from the Coweta Fire Department.
Coweta will use funds from the city’s Rural Fires dues to pay Broken Arrow $2500 a month to assist with serious fire and medical emergencies in undistricted areas from 101st Street to roughly 161st Street.
Brian Anderson lives off 101st and 225th in Broken Arrow.
His home is part of the "undistricted" areas from 101st Street to 161st Street on this map:
Anderson said he is glad the cities are doing something to help the community.
“I think it's great that someone is focusing on the fact that there's a hole here,” he said. “Broken Arrow is just growing so fast.”
Chief Brian Woodward is the Coweta Fire Chief and said people living in these areas have complained about long response times to emergencies.
He said population growth has contributed to longer response times as more calls have come through.
“Over the last five years, we've received a 30% increase of calls, and that it is very simple, population equals call volume,” he said. “Out of the had nine calls that was located in there from the past year, we had an average response time of 12 minutes to there. They do fluctuate. I think the fastest we had was nine minutes, and the worst we had was 16 minutes.”
Broken Arrow Fire Chief Jeremy Moore said the department is ready to help.
“It's more important to provide public safety than worry about those jurisdictional boundaries," he said. "It's an exciting time that now Broken Arrow fire trucks will be able to respond quicker to those citizens in need.”
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