Horizon City opens new fire station during pandemic that cuts emergency response times in half

HORIZON CITY, Texas-- The emergency protection in Horizon City has doubled.  

With fire station two opening their bay doors to the city during the coronavirus pandemic, people in Horizon will have their emergency response time cut in half.

Chief Kris Menendez took ABC-7 on a tour of the latest command center for first responders.

Menendez spoke about the vehicles the station utilizes and why some are more appropriate for individual situations saying, “Our quick response vehicle, so all the calls we handle that are medical are in this unit. So what that allows us to do is save fuel, wear and tear on the bigger truck (pumper) and also allows us to get there a little quicker than the bigger truck.”

The new station came with an industrial style kitchen that could feed well over the 20-plus firefighters that will be working from station two.

Station two has a work out facility that rivals most professional gyms.  Chief Menendez commented on the importance of being a physically fit first responders adding, “We try and make sure the firefighter work out at least one hour each shift and the whole purpose for that is we need them prepared for the worst case scenario.”

The Horizon City chief knows that he sends his firefighters into danger every day, many of those going into the virus outbreak areas are volunteers.

The chief proudly spoke of his cadre saying, “Even with Covid they are there to provide a service and so they take that pride. Even though there is a risk in everything we do we just have to minimize that risk as much as possible.”

Chief Menendez appreciates the selfless sacrifice his mostly volunteer staff gives of themselves, “The firefighters put forth a lot of effort and time and dedication and we only hope that the people out there see that and realize that this is a volunteer station being staffed 24/7."