Arriving on scene From the cover
Sorting out details
The big picture
The GFD has seven fire stations throughout its 140-square-mile coverage area. “If I look at that 140 square miles that we serve, there’s roughly 32% or so that are more than 3 miles from a fire station,” Sullivan said. “Those are also areas that are becoming more densely populated.” City officials are proposing Fire Station No. 8 be constructed near Wolf Ranch and begin design in fiscal year 2025-26, Capital Improvement Project Manager Jennifer Bettiol said in an email. The anticipated time frame from starting the station’s design to opening it is about three years, she said. Fire stations range between $8 million-$10 mil- lion per site, while fully equipped fire engines and ambulances cost about $1.7 million and $450,000, respectively, Sullivan said. Given available funding, officials will consider beginning Station No. 9’s design in 2028 or 2029, Bettiol said. Each station will be funded through certificates of obligation, Bettiol said, which do not require voter approval.
District No. 8, which allows the department to provide services to residents of the city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction and those inside city limits, ESD 8 President Bobby Bunte said. Bunte said the department is looking to build more fire stations in strategic areas to improve response times. “Quick response times are essential to saving lives,” Bunte said. “In a cardiac event, time is life.” In 2024, Georgetown’s emergent medical responses by ambulances exceeded the nine minute goal 28.7% of the time, according to GFD data. Georgetown’s size, topography, roads, construction and traffic all play into the department’s ability to arrive on scene quickly, Sullivan said.
By 2030, Georgetown Fire Department’s calls for service could nearly double, Fire Chief John Sullivan said to City Council in February. In 2024, the department received 15,648 total calls, about 77.4% of which were medical requests. “We can’t do that necessarily with the same number of resources,” Sullivan said. The GFD receives both priority, or emergent, calls for service along with nonpriority, or nonemergent, calls. When a priority call comes in, first responders have a goal of arriving at the scene in nine minutes or less. This is because severe brain damage is more likely to occur after nine minutes, and fires can double in size by the minute, Sullivan said. The GFD has a cost-sharing agreement in place with Williamson County Emergency Services
Georgetown priority medical response times by minute in 2024 1,250
In 2024, Georgetown ambulances met the department’s nine-minute response time goal 71.3% of the time.
1,000
WOLF RANCH PKWY.
DB WOOD RD.
750
29
500
Fire Station No. 8*
N
250
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20 20+
Minutes
1460
Fire Station No. 9*
N
SOURCE: GEORGETOWN FIRE DEPARTMENT/COMMUNITY IMPACT
*LOCATIONS ARE PROPOSED
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