Airmen, Soldiers and their families living in base housing on McChord Field can now have piece of mind that when there is an emergency, base firefighters and paramedics are going to get to the scene a lot faster.

Joint Base Lewis-McChord Fire Department officials, leadership from both installations and firefighters from local communities that the base shares mutual aid agreements with celebrated the opening of a new fire station on McChord Field Tuesday.

Army Col. Thomas Brittain, JBLM garrison commander, and Air Force Col. Valerie Hasberry, 627th Air Base Group commander, used Jaws of Life tools to cut a makeshift ribbon crafted from a car door as part of the ceremony to christen the new $1.9 million building, located across the street from Whispering Firs Golf Course.

"For years, they tried to get a second fire station out into this area because we could not meet our response times to get into the housing areas," said JBLM Deputy Fire Chief James Elways, an Air Force veteran. "By placing this fire station right here we reduce our response times to the housing area by over half."

Construction on the 4,800 square-foot fire station began in February 2011, and will employ 11 firefighters and one paramedic. The team will respond to everything from sprained ankles and other medical calls all the way up to house fires, automobile accidents and aircraft incidents.

"It gives the firefighters the opportunity to greatly improve customer service to the housing area," said John Harris, assistant chief of special operations. "Most fire departments in the Department of Defense don't have paramedics. This department provides some excellent customer service through stellar paramedics."

The station is staffed mainly with Department of the Army civilian firefighters, but it will feature active-duty Air Force and Army firefighters who will come in and operate on a fill-in basis.

Firefighters assigned to the new fire station will also be responsible to other areas on McChord Field besides base housing, such as the Commissary and Exchange facilities.

"For years, they were unable to fund this," Elways said. "But when the joint base process began, a group of (fire department leaders) used that as an opportunity to push to get a station built. This is the result of it. The efforts came through."

The base's other fire station, located near the flightline, will continue to serve flighline operations and other parts of the installation.

‘This is a huge success story," Brittain said after cutting the ribbon. "When you talk about a joint team, this is a great example."