Perkins Fire Department

Proposed Fire Station #3

Northwest Service Area

Services

The Perkins Fire Department services roughly 75 square miles in Payne County, Oklahoma providing fire, rescue and emergency medical services to the citizens of the Perkins area.

What We Do

PFD currently manages 2 fire stations, 19 vehicles and 18-20 combination full-time and volunteer firefighters. We use these resources to provide services for not only our home community but also for our neighboring areas through mutual aide agreements.

Fire / Rescue

PFD is fully equipped and trained to provide both fire and rescue services.

Medical

Our firefighters are state licensed to provide emergency medical services.

Community

PFD supports neighboring communities through mutual aide agreements.

Proposed Fire Station #3

March 14, 2025 taught us all several valuable lessons. Above all, it reinforced to us how valuable a fast and effective response is to not only our own service area, but also for those of our neighbors. As a result, we are currently exploring all options for adding a third station to our system in the Northwest region of our service area. This station would allow us to better serve our community as well as to extend fire protection to our neighboring communities.

Preliminary Station 3 design concept, subject to change.

How It Benefits YOU.

Strategically locating fire stations within our service area accomplishes two main objectives.

Saves You Money

The faster and better we can cover our service area, the better our ISO rating becomes leading to lower home insurance rates for YOU.
Lower Response Time

Decreasing our response time helps keep you and your family safer, allowing emergency services to reach you faster when seconds count.

What is ISO?

The Insurance Services Office (ISO) is a private firm that provides data, underwriting, and risk management services to the property and casualty insurance industry. It was formed in 1971 to develop insurance programs, provide statistical and actuarial services, and help insurance companies meet state regulatory requirements. The service then issues "ratings" for local fire departments based on several factors including: number of stations, apparatus (or vehicles), personnel as well as the training and skills of its firefighters. These assigned "ratings" then directly affect your home insurance rates. In relation, the better our rating is, the lower your home insurance rates go.

Our ISO Rating

ISO fire department ratings range from 1 to 10 with 1 being the best and 10 being the worst. Although insurance companies use multiple factors to calculate your home insurance rates, in general the LOWER your local ISO rating is, the lower your insurance rates are. Currently, our ISO rating is: 4. For reference, many smaller 100% volunteer departments typically struggle to maintain an ISO rating between 8 and 10 simply due to limited available resources and man power.

Lower ISO = Lower Insurance Rates

Currently, home owners in the blue zone of the below images carry an ISO Class of 10 (the most expensive rating class given by ISO), even though they reside in our ISO Class 4 fire district. This is because those homes are more than a 5 mile drive from the nearest Perkins fire station. By strategically placing the new station in the northwest region of our fire district, most of these homes will then reside within 5 miles or less from a Perkins Fire station, meaning your ISO class will reduce from 10 down to 4 and your home insurance rates should reduce accordingly.

View As A Map

Perkins Fire Department service area as designated by the Payne County Commission. (Click Image to View Larger)

Station 1 is our primary response facility located across from City Hall in downtown Perkins. (Click Image to View Larger)

Station 2 is located at the intersection of Hwy-33 and Brush Creek Road. The facitlty also serves training and maintenance needs. (Click Image to View Larger)

The ideal area for the proposed new Station 3 is on Western Road between 80th and 92nd Streets. (Click Image to View Larger)

The blue region indicates the area served by the proposed new Station 3. The ISO rating for this area will improve by 6 points. (Click Image to View Larger)

View From Space

Perkins Fire Department service area as designated by the Payne County Commission. (Click Image to View Larger)

Station 1 is our primary response facility located across from City Hall in downtown Perkins. (Click Image to View Larger)

Station 2 is located at the intersection of Hwy-33 and Brush Creek Road. The facitlty also serves training and maintenance needs. (Click Image to View Larger)

The ideal area for the proposed new Station 3 is on Western Road between 80th and 92nd Streets. (Click Image to View Larger)

The blue region indicates the area served by the proposed new Station 3. The ISO rating for this area will improve by 6 points. (Click Image to View Larger)

The Ideal Location.

To optimize coverage, the ideal location for Station 3 would be between 80th and 92nd street on Western Ave. The choice location would be on the southeast corner of Western Ave. and 80th street as this location provides easy access to existing utilities as well as 4-way access to well maintained paved roads.

How Will It Be Funded?

Primarily, funding for the new station would be through an existing Payne County sales tax already allocated specifically to fire departments within the county. This tax is already in place and adding a new station would have NO IMPACT ON NEW TAXES.

Get The FAQ's

Will It Raise My Taxes?

No. Funding for the new station would primarily derive from an already existing county sales tax. This tax was passed specifically for supporting and improving fire protection in Payne County. Therefore, use of these funds will have no impact on current taxes whatsoever.

How many calls does PFD respond to annually?

Obviously, this fluxuates year-to-year. However, on average the department responds to between 500 and 600 calls per year. Medical calls constitute about 60% of our call volume with the remaining 40% being fire or rescue related incidents.

What apparatus would be housed at the new station?

Excellent question. The intent is to pre-position core resources at the new station enabling a faster primary response. At a minimum, the new station would have a pumper (or Engine), a brush truck for responding to wildland fires and more than likely a tanker which is able to transport at least 2000 gallons of water. Additional equipment such as a medical response vehicle may be added later.

Would the station be manned?

At times, yes. None of our stations are currently manned 24x7 due to financial constraints. However, our paid and volunteer firefighters do physically man our stations as they are available to do so. Each of our firefighters and officers also carry pagers and special APPs on their phones that put them in instant real-time communication with the regional 911 center making them able to respond quickly from virtually anywhere.

How can I help?

That's simple, just volunteer. Over 70% of all firefighters in the United States are volunteer. Volunteering is an excellent way to give back to your community. You will be fully trained as a volunteer firefighter at zero cost to you! You can pickup a volunteer firefighter application packet at City Hall in downtown Perkins Monday-Friday between 8:00am and 5:00pm.