WILDWOOD, Mo. — A Chesterfield judge approved plans to build a new fire house in west county.
The ruling came after an ongoing dispute with the City of Wildwood.
The Monarch Fire Protection District Director Jean Millner and Assistant Chief Les Crews are standing on the new lot that will soon replace their current Fire Station No. 2 in Wildwood.
"Just under 4/10 of a mile down the road, we have an existing firehouse that's just over 52 years old. It is in a constant state of repair as you can imagine," Millner said.
"In addition to the new engine house, enhanced safety features that it's going to bring to both firefighters and to the general public is the incorporation of the new LSV ambulance that they don't have in this area right now so that's a big deal," Crews said.
It took two years to get to this moment after pushback from the City of Wildwood lead to a trial where Judge Richard Stewart decided in favor of the fire district.
"The District and Monarch has complied with the environmental assessment, the ecological review and so forth and so for that reason it's been a victory for the city," Wildwood Mayor Jim Bowlin said.
Bowlin raised concerns on whether the new station would follow the National Fire Protection Association standard on response times averaging four minutes.
"The proposed site which was purchased with virtually no due diligence whatsoever is on the east side and during rush hour in the evening on the east side going west, there's a lot of traffic," Bowlin said.
"From the time that you roll out of our driveway and show up into theirs, four minutes is the number they want to hang on to and unfortunately in a rural and remote setting like that's not always practical," Crews said.
"Ten seconds that's what we had concerns about the 10-second longer time period. If it's you or your loved ones, 10 seconds is pretty important," Bowlin said.
"The court has ruled in our favor and said build a fire station so we're happy about that. We want to give the citizens the fire station that they voted on," Crewes said.
They plan to break ground on the new fire house before winter and it should take about a year to complete.
The Monarch Fire Protection District currently operates out of five firehouses and serves more than 60,000 people who live in all, or parts, of Ballwin, Chesterfield, Clarkson Valley, Creve Coeur, Maryland Heights, Wildwood, and unincorporated St. Louis County.
Voters approved the new fire station back in June.