SAUGUS – Fire Chief James Blanchard is raising the specter of building a third fire station and this time he thinks it might really happen.”I have a ray of hope,” he said.Building a third fire station west of Route 1 has been a goal shared by Blanchard, his men and at least two previous chiefs. But it has largely been a lesson in frustration and an idea that is raised every few years only to be shelved again.This time Blanchard said he is cautiously optimistic things will be different and he also feels a responsibility to the residents to make it happen.”I feel it’s an edict from the people,” he said.In 1998 $500,000 was set aside for a new station during the Capital Campaign. In 2002 residents approved two debt exclusions aimed at building and outfitting a new fire station. Blanchard also pointed out that the question focused on building the station was open-ended, with no specific dollar amount attached.”Here I am worried about the cost and I see it’s open ended,” he said. “I had to read it twice.”However, Question 4, which asked voters to support a permanent Proposition 2 1/2 override to pay to man the station failed by roughly 800 votes. The Fire Department is already short-handed and building a third station would only worsen the situation. Blanchard and Firefighter Union President William Cross have generally been of the, “build it and they will come,” frame of mind.The hold up on building the station has mainly been over logistics, however, not manning. While the town owns a piece of property at 270 Main St., next to the Oaklandvale School, Blanchard said it’s not the ideal spot for a station.FIRESCOPE, a company that conducts studies on, among other things, the best place to put a fire station, has looked at a number of pieces of property in town including 270 Main St. Blanchard said it always comes back to the corner of Lynn Fells Parkway and Forest Street.The problem, however, is the property is privately owned and neither Blanchard nor his predecessors have been able to even come close to prying it away from the owners-until now.Blanchard declined to make the details public but said he had a very good feeling about acquiring the land and he feels it is none too soon.”We’ve really needed this since 1969 and shame on us for having people living on the west side that don’t get the prompt response times that everyone else gets,” Blanchard said. “We’re putting this to bed one way or another.”Blanchard was quick to add that the footwork he is doing now is built upon years of work done by others. From former chief Walter Newbury to former Town Meeting member George Moriello, “so many people have done so much work on this. George Moriello has done a ton of work and has been so passionate about this.”In a town this size it is a joke that we don’t have a third station, it’s a recipe for disaster,” Blanchard added. “With the amount of runs we do, the accidents, we’re dodging bullets.”