“[T]his building is in much worse condition including concerns with ADA, lack of toilet rooms, a kitchen that does not meet codes, lack of storage and undersized apparatus bays,” the study states. “The primary concern with the fire department however is not the repair costs, it is that the department lacks essential building functions and does not have the room to accommodate these functions on the current site.” The study estimates the cost to build a new fire station that meets the space needs would be around $5.2 million.

The 18,481-square-foot station with four apparatus bays will be built at 24127 Western Centre Drive, Katy. Fire officials estimate that construction will take 12 to 14 months. In the meantime, the temporary station manned by the department at Cobia and Kingsland Boulevard will be relocated to the new site once concrete is poured and utilities are installed.  

That’s so the crews will become familiar with the location and how to respond to different locations at different times of day, said Simon VanDyk, department spokesman.

VanDyk said the department opened the temporary station in December 2015 because it is important to be located on the west side of the Grand Parkway and be able to respond to calls in the area.

Officials with the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office say shortly after 11 a.m. on Tuesday, deputies worked a single vehicle collision involving a St. Paul’s Fire Department truck.  

Deputies say the fire truck was responding to another collision and was on Hwy 165.

“The firefighter lost control of the truck and the vehicle overturned,” CCSO officials said."The driver was the sole occupant of the vehicle. He was transported to the hospital with minor injuries."

Engine 12 was custom-built with stainless steel to fit into Easton’s Depot Street station, which it entered on Monday after experiencing the ceremonial “wet down,” a tradition that harkens back to a time before fire trucks even existed.  

“Way back in the 1800s, when they had horses pulling fire pumpers, firefighters would wash both the horses down and the pumpers when they got back,” he said. “Because the horses couldn’t back up, the firefighters would manually push the fire pumper back into its stall.”

The new truck is a 2018 E-One Typhoon Rescue Pumper that came off the production line in January and has a 1,500 gallons per minute (GPM) pump. The truck can carry up to 1030 gallons of water to use to fight fires. It has a lot of compartment space, some stocked with slide out compartments trays to make the removal and replacement of emergency equipment easier on fire fighters. The truck is capable of carrying 5 pre-connect attack lines and large diameter fire hose in the separate hose bed, along with rescue equipment. It was purchased through Sunbelt Fire Apparatus, which is a dealer for E-One Fire Trucks for a cost of $424,000.00.  

“We would like to thank our city government for understanding our needs in what it takes to provide our community the quality service that everyone deserves when it comes to fire protection,” commented EFD Chief Greg Holmes. “We are moving as quickly as we can to put the Fire Department's loss in our rear view mirror and looking to a positive future to be better than we were prior to March 3.”