Calgary's fire chief says his crews can't meet the city or the provincial response time standards in the new community of Mahogany. (Google street view)

Calgary's fire chief has significant concerns about response times and public safety in parts of the new southeast community of Mahogany.

Bruce Burrell put his concerns in a letter to the city, but none of those issues have been addressed so far.

The area is home to hundreds, but the community is still being built, and parts of it are within an emergency planning zone for a nearby sour gas well and pipeline.

Mahogany

Burrell says his crews can't meet the city or the provincial standard to respond within 10 minutes.

In his letter, Burrell states in the event of an evacuation, traffic will overload 52nd Street to get out as emergency vehicles are trying to get in.

Burrell, who is away at a conference this week, also wants the developer to set up a warning system to get information to residents.

Acting chief Ken Uzeloc says even a new fire hall now under construction nearby will not resolve all the concerns.

"Seton will help, but still as we keep growing as a city we keep getting the challenge and we always seem to be playing catch-up to the development," he said.

The fire department is calling for a complete risk assessment of the community.

The company building the new southeast community says safety concerns will be dealt with as the area is built out.

Scott Hamilton, who speaks for the developer Hopewell, says while no one currently lives in the emergency planning zone (EPZ) by the sour gas well, anyone who buys there in the future will be told about it.

"Our plan absolutely has been all along is to make information available to current residents as it is and as well to notify future residents before purchasing of the presence of the EPZ in Mahogany," he said.

Hamilton said the developer is working with city officials on some kind of warning system to ensure residents know when there's an emergency.

With files from CBC's Scott Dippel