Bellevue firefighters will now be at the department’s station around the clock.
The first shift started this morning.
Fire Chief Jack Mlnarik says their response times will be much better with a three-person crew on duty.
Until now, they had firefighters at the station for 66 hours a week. He says a study showed about 50 percent of their fire calls came in while they weren’t staffed.
Mlnarik says their response times have been five to six minutes when firefighters were at the station, and 12 to 13 minutes when they weren’t.
