The budget gets a final public hearing in August at the county Board of Supervisors, after which supervisors will vote on whether to approve it.

The budget proposes to hire six new entry-level firefighter positions at a cost of roughly $500,000 a year.

Those six additional firefighters would be enough to get two out of the four single-staffed stations up to two people on duty 24/7/365, according to Assistant Kings County fire Chief Rick Smith.

The four county stations that currently have one person on duty are Stratford, Island District, Hardwick and Burris Park.

Smith said officials are leaning toward adding staff to the Stratford and Hardwick stations first. He said those stations tend to experience higher call volumes.

County officials said the $500,000 cost will come out of a tax the county levies on hazardous waste revenue coming into the newly approved hazmat landfill at the Kettleman Hills facility operated by Chemical Waste Management.

The county receives 10 percent of what Chem Waste charges to store hazardous waste in the landfill, according to Rebecca Campbell, assistant county administrative officer.

The ladder stretches 80 feet, allowing crews to put out fires from above. “There’s buildings built now within the county that we can’t reach with ground ladders, reach the roof of them,” Turner said.

Turner said it also allows firefighters to rescue people in hard-to-reach places quicker and safer.

The fire chief said a new ladder truck typically costs about $1 million. Turner said they purchased the ladder truck for about $30,000. “Last year, we were fortunate enough to get a few new trucks, and that allowed us to get rid of some older trucks and we took that money and kind of pulled it together to be able to purchase this truck,” he said.

Turner said they were able to purchase the truck from the Covington Fire Department at a discounted price because that department got grant money for a new truck.

A majority of board members may be ready to side with the community, but the situation remains fluid and the most vocal board member on the subject – Chairman Libby Garvey – is in favor of relocation. Garvey said statistics are clear: A move from the fire station’s current location on Lee Highway to a site at 26th Street North and Old Dominion Drive would provide quicker response times to residential areas in far northwest Arlington.

Board members are slated to make a decision on the final location on July 19. Funds for planning and designing the new facility are slated to be included in a Nov. 8 bond referendum, with construction funds slated for inclusion in a 2018 bond referendum.

A task force set up last year by the County Board came in with its report in late May, with a majority of members in favor of keeping the station where it is. That was a victory for many residents of the Halls Hill/High View Park community, who want the station retained in their midst to honor African-American firefighters who served the community during the segregation era, and to provide rapid response to calls for service.

While the task force disagreed with county staff on the location, all sides appear to agree that a new station needs to have four service bays, compared to two at the current station. In either location, such a station would cost about $14 million, according to current estimates.