COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Firefighters serving the rural stretch of Brazos County south of College Station now work out of a $5.3 million station and district headquarters at 6055 Koppe Bridge Road, which Brazos County Emergency Services District 1 opened to the public this week.
The building gives the South Brazos County Fire Department its first station designed for crews to live and work in, rather than a garage built only to park trucks. To keep costs down, the district reworked a building already on the land and then added apparatus bays, restrooms and office space.
The opening also marks a shift in staffing. A department that long relied entirely on volunteers now has three full-time firefighters who rotate 48-hour shifts alongside 15 volunteers, according to district officials. The new site replaces the older station on Wellborn Road and sits in a more central spot for the area it covers.
At the county commissioners meeting on Nov. 3, Precinct 1 Commissioner Bently Nettles said average response times in the south county should drop from about 20 minutes to 10. Faster arrival matters more than it once did, he noted, because newer homes tend to burn faster.
Assistant Chief Chet Barker said the bigger station grew out of the growth the area has seen, and that the central location was a key goal of the move. Community members filled the site for the grand opening on Monday evening, and the district had quietly moved its crews into the building in October.
The district serves about 20,000 people, most of them in rural neighborhoods, and leaders expect emergency calls to keep climbing as new housing spreads across southern Brazos County.
Section: More College Station TX crime news
Filed under: College Station TX Public Safety News
