TEMPLE, Texas (KXXV) — The Temple Fire Department is planning multiple upgrades across its stations as the city prepares for significant population growth over the next decade.
Fire Station 2 is currently under construction, with Station 4 construction scheduled to begin in November and last for one year. Fire Station 7 is awaiting renovations, which will begin alongside the new Fire Station 9 is added.
TFD public information officer, Santos Soto, said growth is putting pressure on the department's current resources.
"As the city continues to grow, yes, it does put a strain on the current resources and staff that we have. And being able to add to those numbers and resources to better suit the needs of the community helps everybody out in the long run," Soto said.
Soto said station placement is carefully coordinated with population density and the specific needs of each part of the city.
"The equipment that we use, those stations are strategically placed around the city in coordination with population density, whatever's going on within there, whether it be the industrial park out here on the north side of town or just maybe right here where we're at downtown where we have a heavy residential populace," Soto said.
The expansion comes as Temple is expected to see a population increase of about 28,000 people over the next decade; being ranked among the top 20 fastest-growing cities in the nation, according to a 2023 U.S. Census Bureau report.
Marilyn Tumazi has lived in Temple for almost 10 years and said she has watched the city's growth firsthand.
"We've seen a lot of growth. We moved, we picked Temple because it was about the same size of the city that we moved from, and we love the idea that it was big enough that there's activity and big enough that young people don't just grow up and leave, that it's constantly moving, thriving," Tumazi said.
Tumazi said she is glad to see more resources being added for first responders.
"We want to have enough firefighters so that people can rotate on and off shifts. They can go on vacation, if somebody's out sick they're not shorthanded. Temple is growing, the spread is now wider," Tumazi said.
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