MOUNT VERNON, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – Boosted staff numbers will help cut down on emergency response times in Mount Vernon.

That’s according to the city’s Fire Dept, which announced Thursday, July 30 that they’ve eliminated the need for cross-staffing at Fire Station 3. Cross-staffing means using a crew from one station to meet the service area of another, less-staffed station.

Mount Vernon Fire Chief Bryan Harris says a voter-approved levy last November allowed them to hire six firefighters and EMTs this year.

The fire department had long been struggling to reach a response time benchmark of 4 minutes.

So far, the city estimates that emergency response times have improved by about 33% across all three stations.