A former highway maintenance facility and visitor center near E-470 and Aurora Highlands Parkway is being converted into Aurora’s 18th fire station, and city fire officials say it could shave crucial minutes off emergency response times in one of the city’s fastest-growing corners. Aurora Fire Rescue Chief Alec Oughton said the new station, known as Station 18, is expected to cut response times in parts of Aurora Highlands by seven to 10 minutes.
That matters because current response times in the area lag between 12 and 18 minutes, according to CBS Colorado. “(Station 18) is going to shave 7 to 10 minutes off our response times to some areas of Aurora Highlands,” Oughton said, according to the station’s reporting. Station 18 is expected to be operational late this fall, repurposing the existing building rather than building from scratch.
A City Outgrowing Its Fire Coverage
The project lands against the backdrop of a city straining to keep emergency services ahead of its own sprawl. Aurora has grown to more than 414,000 residents, and newer neighborhoods increasingly sit miles from the nearest fire crew, per the same CBS Colorado report. Compounding the problem, the department says five of its fire stations are now more than 50 years old.
Oughton believes Aurora Fire Rescue will need at least three more stations within the next decade just to keep pace with the city’s growth, the outlet reports. Aurora City Council has already approved funding for a future Station 19 on the city’s southeast side, slated for construction in 2027. Aurora Fire Rescue currently operates 17 fire stations spread across the city’s 165 square miles, according to design firm RS&H, which has worked on multiple Aurora station projects.
Big John’s Firefighting History
Big John is a retired piece of Aurora firefighting history: the department’s vintage 1955 Seagrave fire engine. Custom-ordered in 1955 by the then-Aurora Volunteer Fire Department, Big John was built as a Seagrave Series 900 model with a 1,000-gallon-per-minute pump, according to Sentinel Colorado…