City of Las Vegas prepares to break ground on Sun City Summerlin fire station

Off-site improvements — $193,200 worth — are under way. Bids are being taken today. Soon, ground will be broken . The city of Las Vegas plans to open fire station No. 107 next summer.

The 7,800-square-foot facility is scheduled to break ground around July 1. It is being built at the northeast corner of Del Webb B oulevard and Sundial D rive, within Sun City Summerlin. Mike Myers, fire chief for Las Vegas Fire & Rescue, used a map to illustrate a big hole in its coverage area.

“My job is to make sure that you’re taken care of,” he told area residents at a meet-and-greet event on April 20 at the Desert Vista Community Center.

The fire station’s site was part of the Palm Valley Golf Course, 9201 Del Webb Blvd.

The off-site improvements mostly consist of moving the tee area on which the facility will be built.

Currently, the walled-in Sun City Summerlin community forces emergency crews to go around or to travel up a steep grade.

While fire station No. 107 will be located within the retirement development, it is a city facility and will serve all its residents.

The station is estimated to cost $6.3 million. The figure includes $4.6 million for the building, fixtures, furniture and office equipment, plus $1.1 million for the fire engines.

The $6.3 million figure includes a contingency parachute of about $700,000.

“We almost always give 100 percent back,” said Roy Lawson, budget analyst for the city of Las Vegas.

It comes with only a $1 cost to Sun City Summerlin — a token amount for deeding the site to the city.

An estimated 14,000 people live in Sun City Summerlin, a 55-or -older community. The fire department reports that it answers an estimated six calls there daily. Tim Szymanski , public information officer for Las Vegas Fire & Rescue, said 90 percent of all calls to Sun City are medical, not fire-related.

The three existing Summerlin-area fire stations that serve Sun City Summerlin have a response time that ranges between 6 and 10 minutes, with crews taking longer to arrive on the scene during daytime hours due to traffic, fire officials said.

“It cuts down on work if we can get there quicker ... that’s what saves lives,” Szymanski said.

Sun City resident Bob Segler volunteers on the security patrol and said the community has long needed the station for medical emergencies.

“I can’t remember when we had the last fire,” he said.

Ruth Green has to call the fire department for help whenever her wheelchair-bound husband, Richard, has a medical emergency. Sometimes, he has fallen to the floor.

“They pick him up like he’s tissue paper,” she said.

Contact Summerlin and Summerlin South View reporter Jan Hogan at jhogan@viewnews.com or 387-2949.