The project will cost about $8.3 million and has been in the making for more than 10 years. The one story, 15,000 square foot building will be equipped with enough room for fire engines, living quarters for four firefighters and two bulldozer crew members. It will also have three apparatus bays, nine dorms, an office, training area and additional space for future expansion.

The original Fire Station 27 was built in 1952. Once the new station is opened, the old facility will be leased to the U.S. Forest Service which currently shares the station with VCFD at 613 Old Telegraph Road.

As it was mid-turn, the ambulance was struck by a Ford Escape heading northbound on Hardy Oak Boulevard.

The impact spun the ambulance into a curb, which sent it airborne until it landed on a Honda Accord and a minivan, investigators said.

No one was seriously injured, Armendariz said. He noted that the patient being transported was picked up by another ambulance which continued to Methodist Stone Oak Hospital.

It was not clear if the ambulance had its lights and sirens on, investigators said.

The city is already handling most advanced life support, or ALS, calls which involve the more life-threatening situations.

The switch to Nelson for basic life support, or BLS, calls was made because Nelson could provide quicker service owing to its ability to station ambulances within the city. The previous BLS provider was American Medical Response, better known as AMR.

“The new contract demands seven minutes or better response times and better patient care,” Blake said. “The former company couldn’t agree to that seven-minute deadline.”

The Fire Department sees about 5,000 calls for ambulances every year, a seemingly high number, considering that there are about 20,000 households. Of these, 3,500 are for an ALS response with the remainder calling for a less acute BLS response.

There are about 2,000 calls for fires and related incidents per year, officials said, far less than the calls for medical help.

This is why, according to Battalion Chief Dan Wassmer, nearly all of the 112 firefighters in the MFD are certified as emergency medical technicians. And of these, 27 are also licensed paramedics, meaning that they cay can provide a very advanced level of emergency care.

The MFD costs the city more than $50 million a year, and there are other costs to the service not included in that figure, such as vehicle acquisition.