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Page 123 <br />parts of the community. Response times in a local area and in the entire community can <br />be negatively impacted if adequate resources are not in place. <br />Fire stations are expensive to build and operate and their locations should be selected <br />for long-term service. Spacing is important and should vary by population density. At a <br />maximum, fire companies from two adjacent stations should travel four minutes before <br />meeting. In a suburban setting, that might be four to five miles. In a more developed <br />area, it might be as little as a mile. Travel time is also impacted by other factors such as <br />traffic, natural and man-made barriers, and the street network. These considerations <br />need to be addressed when assessing fire station locations. <br />The primary issue for TFD is the department's ability to provide commensurate services <br />and equitable response times throughout the city. TFD needs to be able to respond with <br />the same number of fire companies in the same time frame to similar areas. In other <br />words, an effective fire fighting force should be identical for a single-family house in <br />northwest Tukwila as in the southwest or downtown, or anywhere. <br />Automatic and Mutual Aid in Tukwila <br />The fire departments in South King County all participate in some form of mutual aid or <br />automatic aid to respond to emergency incidents in a timely manner with the resources <br />needed to mitigate an emergency. Automatic aid is given and received by TFD by the <br />surrounding fire departments, primarily the RFA and the PSRFA. Under the automatic <br />aid concept, the closest fire apparatus responds to the emergency regardless of <br />geopolitical boundaries. The response is automatic and included in the Valley Com <br />dispatch or response plan. Under the mutual aid concept, response by an agency to <br />another jurisdiction must be approved by someone at the time of the request. This <br />response is not automatic and may be delayed. <br />Maps 7 and 8 below illustrates the locations of responses where automatic aid was <br />given or automatic aid was received by the City of Tukwila for all incidents. <br />Tukwila Fire Department — Station Location Study <br />June 2017 <br />50 <br />