The City of Georgetown broke ground on two Fire Stations, March 1st and 5th.
Fire Station 7, on Highway 29 at Inner Loop, will serve areas on the city’s east side as well as areas in Emergency Services District 8. Total construction cost for the 13,000 square foot station is $6.3 million.
The building will have three truck bays and living quarters for 13 firefighters or medics. The 2019 City budget includes 11 new firefighter/medic positions to staff the station.
A SAFER grant from the Federal Emergency Management Association will also provide $1.7 million in federal funding with a $1 million City match to fund 75 percent of the new positions for the next two years and 35 percent of the cost in the third year.
As well, a new cost-sharing agreement between the City and ESD 8 helps cover the costs of providing fire service.
Fire Station 6 is on Williams Drive and FM 3405. It will serve the west side of Georgetown and areas in Emergency Services District 8. The total construction cost for the 12,000-square-foot station is $5.5 million. The building will have three truck bays and living quarters for 6 firefighters or medics. A cost-sharing agreement between the City and ESD 8 also will provide funding for the new station.
Mayor Dale Ross highlighted the need for the new stations with data on Georgetown growth and the need for new services. “We already have world-class police, fire and EMS services. We are predicting our city’s growth will continue and want to keep ahead of the curve, especially in emergency services. Since 2017, medical and fire calls have increased 56 percent and we have been very proactive getting the infrastructure in place so we can continue to protect our citizens. The data tell us we have more medical than fire calls and, as always, we are committed to partnerships that will help provide these services.”
District 7 Councilman Tommy Gonzalez is pleased to have a new station in his district; “This is a great new model; we were looking for easy access to roads to get in and out and this station is centrally located for the heavy growth we are experiencing in this District. Our model was to have all homes within a six minute response time. That was a challenge for FS1 in the past and I am pleased this new station will help us meet that goal.”
Construction is expected to be completed on both stations in March 2020.
