HEWITT, Texas (KXXV) — “We can get there even faster — those are the things that really do save lives and really help protect your property,” said Hewitt Fire Department’s Chief, Jonathan Christian.
The Hewitt Fire Department is in the process of adding another fire station to the city — they’ve been planning this new addition for years.
“We've seen the need and really try and keep up with the growth of the community and provide better service,” Christian said.
Christian says the new station will help them to manage more calls in Hewitt.
“It splits the city pretty much in half and will help reduce our response times,” Christian said.
“Right now, our average response time is about six minutes, but on the far side of town, we can have up to an eight minute response time,”
With the new station, they should be able to cover the entire city in four to five minutes — he says arriving on the scene quickly is crucial when managing fires.
“Fires can double in size about every minute, just as a sort of a rough rule, if we can get there sooner, we can limit that damage,” Christian said.
The fire department is working with $5 million for this project.
“Not only are we growing, where we can respond to our city better, but we do we help our surrounding community,” Christian said.
He says it could take around 18 months for the station to be built — the new property will be built on Old Temple Road between Sun Valley Boulevard and Spring Valley Road.
“Just being able to go by and see that fire station in your community, you know that there's somebody there that their main job is there to keep you safe and protect you and to be there when you need them,” Christian said.
