HIDDEN SPRINGS, Idaho — Right now the doors of the Hidden Springs Fire Station are locked, but soon the station will be staffed for the first time in decades. This comes as the area continues to grow and a group of residents spent years advocating for this change.
If you love the outdoors, Hidden Springs is pretty perfect.
"There's no better place to be," said Hidden Springs Town Councilmember, Gary Stanislaw. "It's quiet, it's clean, there are so many community activities that happen, the children are safe here."
Still, no community is perfect and Stanislaw said one of the imperfections of Hidden Springs is the emergency response times.
"We had a house burn to the ground here on Humphrey's Ave--Humphrey's way," he said.
It was that event that prompted Stanislaw to push for change, he wants a staffed fire station
"Until this region grew and there was more property taxes coming in, it was not a feasible thing to do," Stanislaw said.
The population of Hidden Springs has doubled in the last ten years, but it still sits at roughly 3,000 people.
"Obviously we see the Dry Creek Valley that's kind of being developed out right now and we also see Hidden Springs and Cartwright Ranch develop out," said Eagle Fire Chief Tyler Lewis.
The growth of these communities does make staffing the Hidden Springs Fire Station feasible.
As our media partners at Boise Dev reported, it will cost roughly $1 Million to staff three firefighters 24/7.
So the Eagle Fire Department and North Ada County Fire Rescue have entered into a contract, working together to provide staff at this station 24/7.
"This puts us strategically located to a lot more of that Boise front and Eagle front for protection of the urban interface area," Lewis said.
Fighting wildfires is another factor since Hidden Springs is within the Wildland-Urban Interface. This is a transition area between man-made developments and undeveloped wildland.
Having a fire station close to home is also critical during medical emergencies.
"When somebody has a heart attack or a stroke, minutes count," Stanislaw said.
The Eagle Fire Department said every year there are a handful of small wildfires in this area, so staffing this fire station will be crucial to protecting this growing area. The station will be staffed 24/7 starting mid-June.
