It is hard to keep a smile off Champions Area Fire Department fire chief Hilland Hardy’s face these days, and the department’s five fire trucks appear to be beaming.
The reason? They are housed in a brand-new fire station on Champion Forest Drive near the Greenwood Forest clubhouse.
At an open house July 4, 400-500 residents gazed at the gleaming red pumpers, rescue truck, brush truck and tower truck in the station’s bays. They peeked into the firefighters’ lockers, private quarters and the spacious training room. They gazed up at the mile-high ceiling in the station’s reception area.
“This is a very comfortable, state-of-the-art facility,” Hardy said. “The building can withstand winds up to 120 miles per hour. During Ike last year, we moved out of our former station because we were worried it would fall down.”
The Champions Area crew was housed in that station, which was located behind the existing station, for about 35 years. Over the course of time, five additions were tacked onto the station, and it had deteriorated to the point where the entire structure leaked during rainstorms.
Several years ago, Emergency Services District 29, the taxing entity that funds the Champions Area Volunteer Fire Department, launched plans for a new station to house the department’s personnel and equipment. Cypress Creek Emergency Medical Service’s ESD 11 agreed to contribute about 17 percent toward the project for a bay that housed ambulance equipment and emergency personnel.
The plan was to build a 26,000-square-foot fire station on a 1/3-acre site formerly owned by the Greenwood Forest Homeowners Association. The project budget was about $3 million.
Then the process hit a stumbling block in early 2004 when a group of Greenwood Forest residents launched a campaign against the sale of that greenspace for a fire station project.
With a majority of residents in favor of the project, according to results from a resident-driven petition drive, the ESD 29 board voted to buy the land for $90,000 in October 2004. That same month, Greenwood Forest residents and opposition group members, Duane and Darline Rutherford filed a lawsuit against the homeowners association to stop it from selling the property.
The Rutherfords live across the street from the property, which is between the existing Champions Area Fire Station and the Greenwood Forest Clubhouse on Champion Forest Drive.
The Rutherfords lawsuit sought temporary and permanent injunctions against the Greenwood Forest Homeowners Association, incorporated as Greenwood Forest Fund, and its five-member board.
Over the next two years, the case made its way to the Texas Supreme Court. In September 2006, the state’s top court issued a decision not to review the Rutherfords’ case. They chose not to appeal that decision, which cleared the way for the fire district and homeowners association to seal the land deal and move forward.
Three years behind schedule, ESD 29 broke ground on the station in November 2007. The station was completed in late February 2009.
Hardy said the price tag jumped by $1.5 million during the interim, but the contractor was able to come in about $100,000 under budget.
The original construction plan remained mostly intact.
The five bays provide ample space for the trucks, and they are protected by electronically operated doors. Off of those bays are storage rooms for hoses, firefighter gear, and tools. Hats, boots and uniforms are at the ready in multiple lockers positioned around the fire apparatus.
Inside the station on the first floor are two offices for the chief and assistant chief, a mailroom, communications room, file room and two-story reception area. The second floor houses several cubicles and 60-seat training room in the public area; and four sleeping rooms, a kitchen and recreational room, report room and restrooms.
As part of the agreement with the Greenwood Forest HOA, ESD 29 resurfaced the clubhouse parking lot and moved the station’s parking to the north side of the building in a water district easement.
Cypress Creek EMS’s ambulance bay and quarters are separated by a wall on the south end of the building. There is a separate entrance, parking lot and driveway for that section of the building.
“We have moved back in and are operating out of the station,” said Brad England, Cypress Creek EMS executive director. “We are very pleased with how the project turned out.”
Hardy said he was happy to introduce the station to the community it serves.
The Champions Area department serves a 9-square-mile bordered by Bammel-North Houston Road on the south, Strack Road on the north, the Burlington Northern Railroad tracks on the west and Stuebner-Airline Road on the east.
Two paid duty crew of six firefighters each man the station on weekdays from 6 a.m.–6:30 p.m. Volunteer crews cover weeknight and weekend shifts.
The crew responds to about 650-700 calls a year.
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