The Champaign City Council voted Tuesday to move forward on acquiring land in southwest Champaign for a sixth fire station.

The new station, which the council voted to locate near the intersection of Windsor and Staley roads, is expected to reduce response time to less than 4.5 minutes on 90 percent of emergency responses in Champaign.

At the meeting, the council also passed resolutions to purchase new network equipment and 16 new vehicles for the city.

The land acquisition is part of the second step of a plan adopted in 1996 to change the Champaign Fire Department from a four-station configuration to a six-station configuration. A fifth fire station was opened on the corner of Mattis Avenue and Paula Drive in 1998.

The city previously acquired land for the sixth station near the intersection of Duncan and Windsor roads, but a new study by the Champaign Fire Department found that the planned location would not provide optimal response times.

Councilman Giraldo Rosales said the new station was very important for the city.

“There are million-dollar homes out there that can’t get a quick enough response from the fire department,” Rosales said. “The new station will solve that.”