By Ethan Colbert
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
ST. CHARLES, Mo. — St. Charles is considering a sweeping $18 million overhaul of its fire department that would add more firefighters and build new fire stations in an effort to boost response times citywide.
Officials here are also debating whether to discontinue the St. Charles Fire Department’s ambulance service and move ambulance personnel into firefighting roles. Department employees are trained to do both.
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The St. Charles County Ambulance District, a separate entity, already has two ambulances in the city and would add more to cover the city of 72,000 residents, if the plan is approved by the St. Charles City Council. Ambulance response times wouldn’t be affected, said district spokesperson Kyle Gaines.
The recommendations, outlined in a 100-plus page report, are set to be discussed during the city council meeting Tuesday night.
The proposed master plan document, which the city hired Emergency Services Consulting International to draft, already has the backing of the local firefighters and paramedics unions.
Eli Strobel, president of International Association of Fire Fighters Local 757, described the report as “a breath of fresh air.”
“We are absolutely in favor of this report, because it addresses a lot of the needs the department faces but also all of the things that citizens need,” Strobel said. “It improves response time, coverage areas and staffing.”
The St. Charles Fire Department received more than 9,500 emergency calls from a 55-square-mile area in 2024, according to the city. This includes coverage of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, where the department routinely responds to emergency calls. Rescue calls on the Missouri River, the city says, account for approximately 25 calls per calendar year.
Firefighters here are able to reach the scene of emergencies within four minutes — the national standard set by the National Fire Protection Association — about 53% of the time.
The proposed master plan also has the support of both the fire department and ambulance district’s top officials, Fire Department Deputy Chief Joe Gragnani and St. Charles County Ambulance District CEO Skip Stephens.
In a joint statement, the two men praised the proposal for providing a “roadmap for the next generation of emergency services” in St. Charles. Other city officials did not respond to interview requests.
Fire stations and a training center
One the report’s primary recommendations is to spend $6 million to remodel two existing fire stations, Station No. 1 at 911 North 6th Street and Station No. 5 at 1650 Pundmann Parkway.
Station No. 1 dates back to 1983 — making it the oldest fire station still in use in the city. The three-bay, 3,000-square-foot fire station has a number of structural issues, according to the report.
Meanwhile, Station No. 5 is a two-bay, 2,750-square-foot fire station that was built in 1991. It lacks a sprinkler system and has a lengthy list of repairs that are needed, per the report.
The proposal also says the city needs two additional fire stations. One potential location has been identified along Muegge Road near Wapelhorst Park; another is tentatively set for northern St. Charles, near Highway 370.
The report says these new fire stations should be built within the next five to eight years, but Strobel, the firefighters’ union official, says the need may come sooner.
“The most immediate need is definitely the one on Muegge Road, just from a coverage perspective,” he said. “The second one will ultimately be dictated by the growth of the New Town area, and it is growing rapidly.”
The report doesn’t include any construction cost estimates, or how many additional personnel would needed to staff them.
Staffing has been a significant issue for the St. Charles Fire Department. Last year, its 79 full-time firefighters logged more than 8,200 hours of overtime.
By moving paramedics from ambulances to firefighting roles, Strobel said the city fire department would have enough staff to deploy an additional fire truck — a feat that the department hasn’t been able to do since 1990.
It would also help “chip away” at overtime costs, he said.
“City administration hates to see that number, because it absolutely eats up the budget,” said Strobel, whose labor union represents more than 90% of firefighters in St. Charles. He said the labor union and fire department leadership are encouraging city officials to hire more firefighters, but stopped short of saying how many are needed.
The master plan also calls for the construction of a $12 million training facility, which would include classrooms, computer resources, incident simulation equipment and other resources.
Firefighters are required to complete 18 hours of live fire training each year, Strobel said. Now, the department has to send firefighters and a fire truck to St. Louis County for training.
Strobel said homeowners could see their insurance premiums go down if the city were to build a training center in St. Charles based on the grading scale from the lnsurance Services Office, which rates fire departments based on their ability to provide fire protection.
City officials said there is no timeline for when the proposed recommendations might take effect.
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