Plans to combine the city's two fire halls under one roof atop the Two Mile Hill need to be revisited, municipal budget critics maintain.

At their weekly meeting Monday evening, members of council heard from Doug MacLean, president of the Riverdale Community Association, and Porter Creek resident Carole Bookless. Both said they are concerned with the city's plans to combine the current two fire stations into one.

Currently, the fire stations are off Second Avenue next to city hall and on top of the Two Mile Hill.

'I understand that the proposal for a fire station in Porter Creek has been scrapped in favour of a centralized station at Two Mile Hill,' Bookless said.

'Of all the city services that would benefit from centralization, fire services is not one of them. With the city's plans to develop in Porter Creek, a fire station to the north of town seems like a good idea.

'My view is the city needs at least three fire stations,' Bookless said.

'One to service downtown and east of the Yukon River. One to service the south and east of the Alaska Highway. One to service the north end of town.'

As Whitehorse experiences more development, Bookless added, there will be a need for more fire stations, not fewer.

'As the city grows, it will become more and more difficult to provide adequate fire service. The city is proposing densifying the downtown and existing neighbourhoods.

'All of this will mean we have to increase the budget for fire service and provide a backup of more stations, not less.

'As we pour more and more money into FireSmart, seeing the danger fires represent to forested subdivisions, we need to provide more money to the fire department.'

MacLean said his organization also has concerns over the city's fire station plans.

He said plans for a large station on top of the Two Mile Hill is not something he's sure his community association could support.

'We'd like two smaller buildings instead of one,' MacLean said.

'We'd also like to be consulted during the process.'

Mayor Bev Buckway said this morning she wasn't sure the critics' concerns are warranted.

Buckway said there has been no final decision made on the downtown fire hall, so when the new station opens, the city would maintain its current level of fire coverage.

'When the new station opens on the top of the Two Mile Hill, the downtown station will also be open.'

Buckway said although the downtown fire hall will be open when the new station is built, whether it will remain open is still under discussion.

Coun. Doug Graham said in an interview this morning council has been advised in the fire hall planning process that one fire hall on top of the Two Mile Hill would still leave the fire department's response time within nationally-accepted limits.

The new fire station proposal, he added, would also give the fire department a larger facility that would assist them with training.

The 2007 budget sets aside $5 million for the new fire station, $4 million of which the city plans to borrow. Construction would start this year and end in 2008.

Fire chief Clive Sparks could not be reached for comment on the issue this morning.