BY SARAH BRAGER
Another detail
Looking forward
CFFD won’t start hiring for Stations 15 and 17 until late 2026, Ramon said. She said the department plans to gradually recruit staff, as bulk hiring usually means sacrificing quality for quantity. “You don’t want to have to hire 100 people at a time because you still want to pull quality people from your pool,” Ramon said. Ramon said Oct. 21 that the department began a hiring phase over the summer, adding four new dispatchers and 20 firefighters to staff. CFFD is also finalizing numbers for new paramedics and expects to extend offers soon, she said. CFFD had a record-high of more than 200 appli- cants this hiring cycle, officials said. Ramon said while they extended more offers this year than in previous hirings, departments in regions such as the Greater Austin area are attracting anywhere from 600-1,200 candidates because they hire responders without credentials and put them through school. She said CFFD may consider this in the future to boost its applicant pool.
The department initially projected to open all eight new fire stations by 2031, Community Impact previously reported. However, CFFD officials said several factors, such as transportation projects in Cy-Fair and easement negotiations with developers, could slow construction, potentially pushing past the six-year projection. The ESD 9 board tapped Martinez Architects to oversee the design of Stations 15 and 17. Ricardo Martinez, firm partner and project executive, said they’ve designed stations for CFFD for about a decade. Martinez said one of the unique challenges of designing a fire station is balancing the technical aspects of the space, such as areas that house vehicles and equipment, with safe living quarters. “All these different components have to work in conjunction to make sure this is a safe environment for the fire personnel,” he said.
Cy-Fair Fire Department personnel growth
Average total staff
New hires
500
459
400
322
300
200
100
45
9
0 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025*
*AS OF SEPT. 30
NOTE: DATA DOES NOT INCLUDE VOLUNTEER RESPONDERS SOURCE: CY-FAIR FIRE DEPARTMENT/COMMUNITY IMPACT
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