Currently, it can take up to 12 minutes for a fire engine to show up in that quadrant because of the distance from the nearest current stations, he said.

He also noted the over-utilization of the headquarters station on Lee Street just west of downtown as a factor for the department last year meeting the response time national benchmark of six minutes 66.5 percent of the time for EMS calls.

The district would repay the bonds with $2 million out of its general fund and $6.5 million with a 20-year property tax increase that would amount to about $117 per year for a house valued at $300,000, Fire Chief Mitch Crocetti said.

Mayor Jim Gray had set aside $5.2 million in the current-year budget for the 12,000-square-foot station.

Rapid population growth on the city's west side created the need for another fire station. The closest fire station to Masterson Station, one of the state's largest neighborhoods, is on Leestown Road. That station was built in 1952.