WPFFA Spotlight: TWFD Station #6 Opens in College Park

TWFD Response Times to Village of College Park to be Reduced

On Thursday, June 22, 2006, The Woodlands Fire Department began service to the Village of College Park from temporary quarters on Windsor Lakes Blvd., bringing the total number of fire stations in The Woodlands to 6.  Engine 106, which will service the area, has, until now, been responding from TWFD Station #2 on Gosling Rd. until quarters could be established in the Village.  Station 6 is now staffed 24/7 from its new (temporary) home behind Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse.  A permanent building will be erected in the coming months on the grounds of Montgomery College on Texas 242.

 On Track

The opening of the new station has been delayed until this point by some unforeseen setbacks.  The Woodlands Fire Department initially committed to expand staffing in the College Park area to coincide with the de-annexation of Harper’s Landing from ESD 4, however what seemed like a simple agreement turned into a year-long ordeal when it came to getting the lawyers from several different entities on the same page.  The agreement with the college for land for the station was contingent upon the creation of an Economic Development Zone (EDZ) within the Town Center Improvement District (TCID) to fund the project.  Once the parties tentatively agreed to the terms, TWFD found out that the college would not allow for the temporary housing of the station during construction, so the search for land for a temporary firehouse was on.  The search led officials to the Lowe’s, who agreed to allow a temporary firehouse to be located next to their loading dock behind the building.  However, again legal issues ate up some more months of time, and in the meantime, E106 was staffed on schedule in December of 2005.  Still awaiting a station site, E106 was forced to respond from station #2 until a temporary arrangement could be hashed out.  Once finalized, TWFD then was forced to wait until June of 2006 before Entergy would install electricity to the temporary building, which had been delivered for some months.  Now, however, the wheels set in motion two years ago have finally yielded a trailer to house firefighters, as well as a Paramedic-staffed engine company for the rapidly growing College Park community. 

Fire Service

The delays in opening station 6 have not affected fire response into Harper’s Landing, which has officially been de-annexed from ESD 4 since January.  Needham Fire Department has continued to respond into Harper’s Landing alongside The Woodlands units to ensure prompt service to the area.  Now that TWFD has a Paramedic-equipped station located in College Park, Needham will no longer respond to minor (single engine) emergencies in Harper’s Landing, but will still respond into the area for major emergencies under the automatic aid agreement between TWFD and the NFD.  Conroe FD will also respond to the area under the automatic aid agreement for major emergencies.

NHMCCD Partnership

The permanent TWFD station #6 will be located on property owned by the North Harris Montgomery Community College District, alongside a state-of-the-art live fire and classroom training complex.  The complex will allow TWFD to provide pertinent emergency services training to firefighters, as well as to allow the college to offer regional firefighter and EMS training to the residents as well as to other fire departments throughout the area.  Once completed, the new station will be located on Texas 242 with quick access to the Village of College Park.  It will be constructed to allow for additional specialized equipment and personnel.