Work on a new $2.9 million fire station is progressing on Quentin Road.

The new station at 1215 N. Quentin Road will replace the Palatine Fire Department's station at 455 Dundee Road. Fire Chief Robert Falardeau said the station should help reduce response times to area along west Northwest Highway and Lake Cook Road.

"Ideally our response time should be less than six minutes," Falardeau said. Specifically the new station's location will help the department reach areas in the northwest section of the city such as the Morgans Gate subdivision more quickly.

The new station could improve response times to this area by a minute or more. Fire officials said the current station on Dundee Road is hampered by heavy traffic. Dundee Road is two lanes and can back-up during peak traffic times.

The department has a total of five stations. The new station will be about 8,700 square feet and will house an ambulance and an engine, allowing its three personnel to answer both fire and medical calls. The station is scheduled to be open by May 2011.

Palatine took over the Dundee Road station from the Palatine Rural Fire Protection District in January 2001. The building was built in the early 1980s. Once the department moves out of the Dundee Road station, the Palatine Masonic Temple will move in.

The Masons previous building at 1 N. Plum Grove Road was taken by the city as part of the Palatine Road construction project. In exchange for the building, which had a higher appraised value than the Dundee Road property, the Masons received a 99-year lease for the fire station building at a nominal fee and about $592,000, Palatine Village Manager Reid Ottesen said.

Mason Lou Casolari said the Dundee Road property will have to undergo substantial renovations before the Masons can use it. The Masons currently are meeting in a temporary facility at 150 W. Wilson Street.

The Lodge has about 300 members and had been at the 1 N. Plum Grove location since 1859.

"It was hard to leave," Casolari said. "But life goes on."

Palatine Patch reporter Melanie Santostefano contributed to this story.