Preparing for growth From the cover
What’s happening
The Cy-Fair Fire Department is set to break ground on two of its eight new re stations by early 2026, part of a long-term strategic plan to ll coverage gaps throughout the rapidly growing Cy-Fair community. CFFD Chief Amy Ramon told Community Impact the expansion is necessary to ensure the department meets population growth with responsible dispatch and emergency services. “The whole point is to make sure you get the right response [and] the right equipment to the community in a timely fashion,” she said Oct. 21. Ramon said everything comes down to serving residents as quickly as possible. CFFD has reduced its average response time over the past two years from almost 12 minutes to approximately six, she said, and the department will strive to continue bringing that down as it expands its reach. CFFD announced the expansion in late 2023 after consulting rm Citygate Associates recommended the department add three inll stations in central Cy-Fair and at least ve more re stations in the western and northern parts of CFFD’s boundaries. The Harris County Emergency Services District No. 9 board of commissioners—a governing body that oversees the re department—hired Citygate in 2023 to perform a community risk assessment
and identify future service needs, Community Impact previously reported. CFFD Finance Director Mike Abend said Citygate found geographic holes in the department’s coverage, including areas with longer response times, which CFFD then used to select specic plots of land for the new stations. Ocials said they also rely on a mapping system driven by articial intelligence to track development and population growth. Since announcing the expansion, CFFD has obtained land for six of the stations and is nalizing agreements for two more—Stations 16 and 19. According to a map of the locations, Station 19—positioned across Grand Parkway toward Waller County—will allow CFFD to base responders along the western edge of ESD 9’s boundaries. Stations 15 and 17 will undergo construction rst, ocials said. Both stations will cost around $13 million each, which the department will pay for using reserves. ESD 9 has approximately $137 million in reserves as of press time, Abend said. “We have been diligent about putting money away so that we didn’t have to take out loans or go back to the taxpayers,” Ramon said.
CFFD opened the new Station 6 in May, which the department relocated to allow for better coverage of the community.
Ramon said the department uses residential population growth of 10,000 individuals and commercial population growth of 5,000 individuals as an indicator that a new re station should be added to the community. More than 33,000 new housing occupancies are projected in the Cy-Fair and Cypress areas over the next 10 years, according to an April report from demographics rm Population and Survey Analysts. Many subdivisions near the Grand Parkway, such as Bridgeland, Avalon and Dunham Pointe, aren’t expected to hit full build-out for several years, the report found.
Cy-Fair re stations The Cy-Fair Fire Department’s new stations will ll service gaps in the western region of the district along the Grand Parkway in line with population growth.
HUFFMEISTER RD.
4
20
7
New stations
Existing stations
19
290
Administration building
17
14
18
Cy-Fair Fire Department boundaries
3
13
Approximate cost of land for each new re station
1960
2
21
10
16
11
Station 14: $3.5 million Station 15: $3.5 million Station 16: TBD Station 17: land donated by Chevron Station 18: $12 million Station 19: TBD Station 20: $8.1 million Station 21: already ESD 9 property
99 TOLL
1
8
15
9
529
6
6
5
12
N
SOURCE: CYFAIR FIRE DEPARTMENTCOMMUNITY IMPACT
18
COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM
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