Current and Former Sparks Firefighters Share Public’s Concerns Over Fire Station Move
Photos and article by Julia Donovan.
“The population and call volume in Sparks has risen dramatically over the year…Station 6 is six minutes from Station 5 and is expected to cover much of the same area, meaning a greater than six minute response time,” a concerned local wrote on Our Town Reno social media concerning the City of Sparks move from Vista Blvd to Scheidbar Road.
“Why do minutes count?” the citizen wrote. “Fire roughly doubles in size every minute…brain cells can start dying within a few minutes. Within five minutes, death becomes probable, and after ten minutes, irreversible brain damage or a coma is highly likely even if that person survives,” they wrote in gory detail.
The move is being made to reduce travel times to some of the Rail City’s busiest areas, previously served by Station 5. “This state-of-the-art facility will improve average response times in north Sparks and was designed to enhance firefighter safety, health, and well-being—featuring modern technology, improved living spaces, and sustainable design,” a social media post for the November 17th ribbon-cutting event at 6963 Scheidbar Road indicated.
“I have an operations chief, Derek Keller, who I tasked him with advising me on best practices of strategy deployment…and based on analytical data that was used to develop our standards of cover, it identified the need for Station 6… we also used that to reverse engineer data to determine what closure would have the least amount of impact to our response times,” Sparks Fire Chief Walt White explained in an interview with Our Town Reno
White did agree that the most ideal scenario would be to staff the new station with a new crew and leave Station 5 intact. “The city just is not in a position to afford that right now,” he said. “So we're gonna keep the station, [in] what we call brownout, so it could be reopened, it'll still be a functioning fire station. It just won't have crews regularly assigned to it,” he said.
Sparks is facing a significant budget deficit for Fiscal Year 2026, initially projected at about $12 million, due to inflation, stagnant tax revenues and depleted reserves.
Brownouts are temporary shutdowns of fire stations that mostly happen in cases of budget cuts or staff shortages. Most cities do this in order to save money, and the city of Sparks is no different.
Former firefighters like Matt Toni are disappointed, saying they believe Sparks officials are prioritizing police over fire services.
“I feel that they could come up with the money,” he said of keeping Station 5 going.
Former firefighter Jim Kindness, who postponed his retirement to be acting fire chief before Chief White came in, agrees with the need to keep Station 5 fully operational.
“There was a call behind Gold Eagle Park,” he said of a recent instance when firefighters were quickly on the scene. “A 49-year-old man had a cardiac arrest. If it wasn’t for [Station 5] or that ambulance being there, and responding I don’t think that person would be here today.”
Kindness spoke out against the change at several council meetings and encouraged others to do the same.
“As my wife and I were walking and talking to people, there was a guy working on his truck, and I informed him about the station closing and he let me know that last month he’d had a heart attack and that quick response from Station 5 saved his life,” Kindness added.
“The city council isn't closing the station to protect the public,” a firefighter told Our Town Reno, wanting to remain anonymous. “It is closing it to protect its pocket book. Raise taxes and keep the community safe or decide that some lives simply don't matter as much as others. That's the dilemma,” he concluded.
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