College Station has a population 62,000 and is located in the Brazos River Valley
of east central Texas, about 140 miles north of the Gulf of Mexico. The Brazos County
community was named as a railway stop by the Postal Service in 1877. Contiguous with
the City of Bryan, College Station was planned, as a model community by college professors
when the college could no longer accommodate their living needs on campus. When
A&M opened its doors to women in the 1960’s, the city’s population began to rapidly
increase and is currently one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the nation.
Prior to 1970, fire protection was provided by a volunteer fire department that was
operated by the University. In 1970, the City created its own fire department, which is
now all career with eighty-four employees. Sixty-nine personnel are assigned to suppression
shifts and are deployed in four stations and staff eight pieces of apparatus. A fifth
station has been approved and is scheduled to open by 2003. The department is organized
in three divisions: Administration, Operations, and the Fire Marshal’s Office. The
Operations Division provides EMS transport service within the City and by contract in
the southern half of Brazos County.
Firefighters work three shifts (24/48). A Battalion Chief commands each shift and
minimum staffing is seventeen per shift, three per engine and ladder company, and two
for an ambulance. Firefighters respond to over 4,000 incidents each year, with EMS calls
constituting approximately 70 percent of the total incident volume.
The City of Bryan, population 61,400, borders College Station to the north.
Bryan is the county seat of Brazos County, population 130,000. The original town site
was established in 1859 on 640 acres and the earliest recorded population indicated that
there were between 300 and 500 residents. The City was incorporated in 1871 and has
grown over the years to its current size of 32.3 square miles.
The Bryan Fire Department was organized on July 5, 1871 and was incorporated by
the State of Texas as Hook and Ladder Company Number One. In the 1880’s, the volunteer
company purchased the first LaFrance steam fire engine to be used in Texas. The first
career firefighter was hired in 1921 and now the department is all career with a staff of
seventy-eight. The Department operates four stations and staffs four engine companies, one
aerial platform, and two ambulances. Firefighters work a 24/48 schedule and a Deputy
Chief is in command of each of the three shifts. The department responds to more than
7,000 calls for service each year, approximately 60 percent are for EMS calls.
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