From the cover
When minutes matter
BY ALEX REECE
KEY
The big picture
10
Existing stations
60
Future station locations
Fire Station No. 3 will be the newest addition to the re eet with the next 11 additional re station sites already bookmarked to plan for the department’s growth, Fire Chief Mark Metdker said. “[Buying land now] ensures station sites will be ready for construction when development occurs,” City Manager Robert Ranc said in an email. Metdker said additional re stations are needed to account for distance and population density. “New stations … allow our residents to live comfortably and rest easily knowing that public safety is a priority in our community—no matter how much Celina grows through the years,” Mayor Ryan Tubbs said in an email. Response times to west Celina from stations No. 1 and No. 2 are usually 12-15 minutes, Metdker said. Once No. 3 opens, those times should be cut to 5-8 minutes, he said. “Right now we have longer response times than we would like to,” Tubbs said at a Jan. 23 State of the Community event. “When minutes matter, public safety matters.”
Station No. 3 district Station No. 2 district Station No. 1 district
289
134
Celina
The re department assigns a district to each station. For example, if an emergency happens in District No. 1, Fire Station No. 1 will be the rst to respond. Districts are redrawn for new stations.
455
455
8
1
E. OUTER LOOP
1385
428
2478
2
3
FRONTIER PKWY.
Prosper
SOURCE: CELINA FIRE DEPARTMENT COMMUNITY IMPACT
N
The breakdown
Going forward
Demographic estimates compiled by the city expect Celina’s population to reach more than 300,000 residents once it is fully developed in the next few decades—similar to Plano, which has 13 re stations. “Plano is my model department that I watch,” Metdker said. “We’re very much like the city of Plano as far as re departments go.”
Both Celina’s active and planned re stations show city leaders’ commitment to public safety, Tubbs said in an emailed statement. Celina will need 15 stations by the time it is fully developed and is on track to open a new one every three years, Metdker said. Each station needs at least 18 re ghters, which have already been hired for Station No. 3, he said.
A grand opening for Fire Station No. 3 is expected be held sometime in late March.
ALEX REECE COMMUNITY IMPACT
Diving deeper
Division Chief Justin Beamis, who has been with the Celina Fire Department for over a decade, said Fire Station No. 3 is a milestone for the department. “I never in my wildest dreams when I started o as a volunteer here would expect to be where we’re at right now,” he said. Hammers said he and multiple Sutton Fields residents will attend the station’s grand opening once a date is announced. “We want to show them our gratitude,” he said. “These guys are heroes.”
Celina's population
The goal is to have a re station within 5 driving miles of every resident, Metdker said. More re stations can improve a city’s Insurance Services O ce rating by reducing response times, said John Riddle, president of the Texas State Association of Fire Fighters, in an email. The Insurance Services O ce is an organization that scores re departments on how they are doing to determine residents’ and business owners’ property insurance costs.
Projected
20K 40K 60K 80K 100K
2023: 34,776
2029: 97,569
2010: 6,028
0
2010
2015
2020
2025 2029
SOURCES: CITY OF CELINA, U.S. CENSUS BUREAU COMMUNITY IMPACT
15
PROSPER CELINA EDITION
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