Broken Arrow and Coweta Fire Departments team up to improve response times

The Broken Arrow Fire Department will start responding to calls in part of the Coweta fire district. They hope this will improve response times by several minutes.

Broken Arrow has a fire station that’s closer to some areas of Coweta than the only Coweta fire station. So, Broken Arrow will respond first when it's a high-priority call.

Broken Arrow’s newest fire station is right on the edge of town. Houses just down the road are in the Coweta fire district. Broken Arrow has always responded if it's asked, but soon, the dispatch will be automatic.

“It's more important to provide public safety than worry about those jurisdictional boundaries,” said Broken Arrow Fire Department Chief Jeremy Moore.

Broken Arrow’s chief and the chief from Coweta have an agreement for Broken Arrow to respond first if the crews can get there faster.

“Broken Arrow will be able to arrive on scene with a paramedic engine and start patient care or start fire attack, and we’ll be there minutes behind them,” said Coweta Fire Department Chief Brian Woodward.

Broken Arrow has a brush rig, a traditional fire engine, and paramedics in Station 3. Coweta has a full complement of equipment in town, but it's far from the southern boundary of the fire district.

There are plans to build a second station, but it won’t happen for several years.

“They’re just physically closer, and fire trucks and ambulances aren’t fast, so it just makes it where they can be there so much faster than us,” said Woodward.

Broken Arrow will automatically dispatch to priority calls in an 18-square-mile area between the two communities and within 5 miles of the Broken Arrow station.

Last year, 180 priority calls came from that area.

“Hundreds of families will now get fire and emergency medical response 5 to 10 minutes faster than we could before, due to this agreement,” Moore said.

It will take some time for the technology connections but once everything works, it could even lead to lower insurance rates because of the faster response times.