Summerlin fire station groundbreaking a first for Mayor Carolyn Goodman

By Kyle B. Hansen

Monday, July 25, 2011 | 1:45 p.m.

Mayor Carolyn Goodman attended her first ceremonial groundbreaking today at the future home of a Sun City Summerlin fire station.

“This is my very first groundbreaking and my very first shoveling,” she said.

Goodman and other city and Sun City Summerlin dignitaries helped shovel at the groundbreaking for No. 107 on Sundial Drive near Lake Mead and Del Webb boulevards.

Sun City Summerlin has proved to be a somewhat difficult place to provide emergency services, officials said. There are a limited number of entrances to the age-restricted community, which has about 12,000 residents in 8,000 homes.

“There is nothing more important than the protection of your health, the protection of your property," Fire Chief Mike Myers said. “We recognized the gap in service in the community and we had to do something — not wanted to, we had to.”

Las Vegas Fire and Rescue’s goal is to respond to all calls within 5 minutes and 20 seconds, he said. “We didn’t have that out here.”

The community has an aging population, so being able to react to medical calls is essential, said Councilman Stavros Anthony, who represents the area.

“Having a fire station right in the community to react to medical emergencies is going to save lives,” he said.

The $4.5 million fire station is being built with money designated for a station in Kyle Canyon. When development in that area stopped, the money was moved to the Summerlin project.

Equipment and staffing for the new station will come from existing facilities, without requiring any additional funds, Myers said.

The land for the station was donated to the city by the community, which had to shift one of the tees at the golf course to make room.

The community's members had to vote on the project because land-use changes require approval from two-thirds of members. The vote was highly debated in the community, but it passed, said David Steinman, a board member and former interim city councilman.

“We worked hard to get it, but we did and here we go,” he said. “This is probably one of the greatest assets we’ll have in our community.”

Myers said firefighters would work on connecting with the community.

“Fire protection is a community interest, and this fire station is going to be a community station, a community house," he said. “We are your neighbors, and we are going to act in that way and treat you in that manner. We want to be part of the neighborhood.”