HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah -- “Good morning, Hill Fire Station 6, here’s your initial radio check and in-service notification. How do you copy?” the on-duty 911 dispatcher said during the ceremonial transmission.
"Hill Fire Station No. 6, all tones are loud and clear and in service!” replied Tiana Bykowski, an assistant fire chief with Hill AFB Fire and Emergency Services (F&ES), during the ceremonial first radio check that marked the opening of Hill Air Force Base’s newest fire station.
Hill AFB F&ES held a grand opening ceremony July 9 for Fire Station No. 6, a newly renovated facility on the installation. The station was converted from a vacant bank to improve emergency response times to base housing and the central and south end areas of the base.
“We recognized the need to reduce overall emergency response times for our base housing residents,” said Bykowski. “It was through our collaboration with the 775th Civil Engineer Group that a potential opportunity to rectify this deficiency was proposed using a unique and innovative solution.”
In 2023, Hill AFB F&ES significantly reduced emergency medical on scene response times to base housing from 18 minutes to eight and a half minutes after becoming the first Air Force fire-based emergency medical services transport agency to provide advanced life support ambulance services from Headquarters Fire Station 1. Despite this improvement, response times still exceeded the maximum standards outlined within the Department of Defense Instruction 6055.06
Pete Feng, 75th Civil Engineer Group director, said the 75th Air Base Wing commander directed plans to build a fire station centrally located on the installation. Funding for the new facility—estimated at $5 million—was not projected until 2036, making it an impractical solution for current needs and since the former Wells Fargo bank was vacant, leadership saw an opportunity to renovate and repurpose it as a fire station.
Centrally located and closer to base housing and the south end of the installation, the repurposed facility cut emergency response times in half.
“Through the collaboration of real property, engineering, funds management, structures, electricians, heavy equipment, plumbing, and so many others, this bank has been transformed over the last nine months into a fire station fit for seven responders assigned on three different apparatus: a battalion chief, an ALS ambulance and an ALS engine,” said Bykowski.
“This facility will increase readiness for the installation not only responding to housing but to the commissary, the BX, and the fitness centers,” Feng said. “I know this station is going to save someone’s life in the future.”