ROCKDALE, Texas (KRHD) — The Rockdale Volunteer Fire Department announced on Facebook Thursday its plan for its first major expansion since 1986.
- New additions will include a conference room, gear room, living quarters and more truck bays
- The expansion aims to accommodate the city's growth and improve service
- The idea is conceptual, and the department still has to determine the costs, funding means and timeline of the project.
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The department is encouraging the community to make donations via Venmo (@RVFDTreas) or make checks payable to "Rockdale VFD" or "RVFD" to:
Rockdale VFD
301 N Wilcox Ave,
Rockdale, Tx 76567
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
When the Rockdale Volunteer Fire Department was built back in '86, current Fire Chief Warren Matous' dad had a part to play in it.
"He was the treasurer of the department when they made the move from the old City Hall to here, so he was very much involved with the building of this fire station," he said.
Fast forward nearly 40 years, Chief Warren is playing a role in the station's first major upgrade.
"It's very personal," he said.
The plan is to expand —
"We've had a committee put together for about two years now," said Matous.
To keep up with city growth.
"In order to do so, we've got to have more apparatus and to have more apparatus, we've got to have more fire station," he said.
The department already gets at least one call a day around the county, so they're planning to add living quarters, a new conference and gear room and more truck bays.
"This property belonged to the school, and the school deeded it over to the city. And the city allowed us to use it for whatever we wanted to use it for for the expansion," Matous said.
Warren says they're still figuring out he funding for the project.
"After we determine what that cost is, then we'll figure out how to fund it," he said.
But thanks the community for making something like this a possibility because it's all about keeping them safe.
"We get most of our money from the support of the community, and we wanted to put this out there so that we could show the community what our next step is and where we're going," he said.
