(Seguin) — There’s more emergency response help for residents in some of the unincorporated areas of Guadalupe County. The county for the first time ever now has a full-time fire department.
Patrick Pinder, Guadalupe County Fire Marshal and Emergency Management Coordinator, says the county recently announced its first shift offering full-time fire protection and emergency services for the unincorporated portions of the county. Pinder says Guadalupe County Fire Rescue is now available all-day, everyday in the county.
“Last Thursday, on the 29th of (December), Guadalupe County Fire Rescue began its first full time 24-hour shift. What that means for the residents of the county is that now Guadalupe County has gone from a part-time fire department, which we have been operating for two years — to a staffed crew of three full-time guys in-house at the station 24/7 365. So that means there’s always a fire fire truck staffed and ready to go for when a call comes in for any type of emergency,” said Pinder.
Pinder says Guadalupe County Fire Rescue, like other fire departments, has a dedicated service area. He says they will be the primary emergency service provider in this area.
“The primary response district for our current staffing is the (State) Highway 46 corridor between Seguin and New Braunfels, and portions of towards the river, and then the I-10 corridor — portions of that north of I-10 to Lower Seguin Road, and then everything east of the river is included in that. So around CMC Steel up 46 to Mary Blvd. and over to Huber Rd. So if you are in that area of Guadalupe County, this is now your primary responding agency,” said Pinder.
Fire and emergency services, in the unincorporated areas of the county, have generally have been provided by the various volunteer fire departments within the county, or through interlocal agreements with cities in Guadalupe County.
Pinder says many of those arrangements are still in place, but this allows the county to enhance the fire and emergency services available here locally.
“We currently still contract with volunteer Fire departments within Guadalupe County, and we also contract with three city fire departments. So we contract with the city of Seguin to cover portions of the unincorporated area of the county. The cities of Schertz and Cibolo to cover areas outside of their area. We contract with York Creek Volunteer Fire Department, Geronimo Volunteer Fire Department, (and) Kingsbury, Sandhills, New Berlin, McQueeney, Lake Dunlap, and Marion (volunteer fire departments). So what we did when we put this full time station in place, is we took portions from the city of Seguin, portions from the volunteer departments of Geronimo. Marion and McQueeney; and (then) made the first response district for Guadalupe County Fire Rescue, which we call station 71,” said Pinder.
These are full-time professional firefighters, and it’s something that the county has considered for a long time. The county used federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds that were distributed during the pandemic to help prepare for the expanded fire and rescue service. Pinder says they hope to be able to expand those services to other parts of the county.
“So in the Commissioners Court, in previous meetings, the discussion was to make sure that we’re meeting what the requirements are in the county. So we have all this growth. There are plans to expand with the ARPA money. Commissioners Court has set aside funding, from that money, to build some fire stations and the county has currently…approved the purchase of four fire trucks. So what the residents in the county are seeing now is the one fire truck that was purchased back then, and it’s now finally in service. Then we have another engine on order and we have a tender, which is a water truck on order, and then we have a heavy-style brush truck. It’s also been ordered. We’re working with architectural firms and making a selection to grow the department and build additional stations throughout the county, and also a new emergency operations center,” said Pinder.
Pinder says their plans to grow Guadalupe County Fire Rescue is not meant to replace the volunteer fire departments. Instead, he says it should help to reduce the growing number of calls being experienced by the volunteers across the county.
“The volunteer fire services has been a very viable resource for Guadalupe County. But just with the growth we’re seeing — a lot of these departments are seeing 500, 600, 700 calls, and a lot of these guys are coming from work (or) coming from home. The county’s just taking that extra step to make sure that we’re giving those departments a little bit of assistance, and also making sure that we’re getting that extra resource to the residents of the county. So even those area that we did take over and respond to — those volunteer fire departments that came to your house before are still going to come to your house. It’s just we’re going to get the county fire department en route first, and then, depending on the call type, we’ll ask for that additional assistance. And that’s just been the mutual aid system for a while,” said Pinder.
Guadalupe County Fire Rescue may be a new full-time service, but for people who need emergency assistance, it’s response will be much like that of any other agency. Pinder says the call will come in, and they’ll then be dispatched the location where help is needed.
“We are dispatched through the Guadalupe County Sheriff’s Office. So if you’re in that service area, the 911 call comes into the dispatcher. We have worked with Bexar Metro 911 to make sure that if you’re in that area, it notifies the dispatcher of where you’re at, and lets them know who to send, and it’s like that in any jurisdiction. So if you’re in the city or any other volunteer fire department’s response district — when you make a call, it’s GPS (activated) and it takes it to the appropriate dispatching station, and then that dispatcher uses the computer technology to send and dispatch that appropriate agency,” said Pinder.
Pinder says ultimately this new staffing schedule will increase fire protection for all residents in Guadalupe County. Guadalupe County Fire Rescue will have three full-time firefighters on 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. They will cover approximately 36 square miles, which is approximately 23,000 acres in Guadalupe County.