FORNEY, Texas — The walls on the Forney Fire Department’s Fire Station No. 2 began going up earlier this week in anticipation for a November 2016 completion.
FORNEY, Texas — The walls on the Forney Fire Department’s Fire Station No. 2 began going up earlier this week in anticipation for a November 2016 completion.
“At this point, we have projected we are about 35 percent complete with the station,” Forney Fire Department Chief Rick Townsend told inForney.com. “Once the walls are up and the roof is on they can proceed with interior and things will begin to proceed a little more quickly.”
The department held a ground breaking for the 11,500-square foot station in August 2015. The station will have an approximate 4,000-square foot, three-lane, drive-thru equipment bay. Townsend says the bay length is increased 30 feet over the current station’s bays.
The station is being built on a 4.330-acre tract of land on Reeder Lane next to the Silver Springs senior living community. The land was conveyed to the city by Meadow Ridge Farm, LP, the developer of the Gateway Bridge development area, in September 2014.
The Forney Fire Department is also anticipating the delivery of a new engine in October or November which will be housed at the new station along side the department’s current ladder truck.
The new engine will come fully equipped and was purchased through the Emergency Services District No. 6, according to Forney Fire Department Captain Phillip Pyle.
According to Pyle, the engine is being built by Spartan in Brandon, South Dakota, and is equipped with a 750 gallon tank with a 1,500 gallon per minute side-mount pump.
Pyle says the side mount will decrease the overall length of the engine by four feet and independent front suspension will allow the engine to have a tighter turn radius which will come in handy in the denser-population areas and proposed retail and commercial near the new station.
The department has applied for a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant. The department was awarded a SAFER grant in 2012 which allowed the department to hire six new firefighters at the time.
The department will hear from FEMA in the coming months if they are approved for the grant.
More recently, the department was awarded an Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) which allowed the department to purchase 15 self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) packs including masks and air tanks as well as 15 additional air tanks.
