Published: June 10, 2009 10:31 am      

Burning question: How goes fire station project?

Modern facility rising amid flurry of activity on Carlson Circle

San Marcos — It’ll be wide open spaces.

At least, compared to the old downtown fire station, retired San Marcos firefighter Jack Mutschlechner said Tuesday.

The new central station, currently under construction at 100 Carlson Circle, will have a lot more space – 19,960 square feet of it.

“That’s something I was dreaming about as a young firefighter,” Mutschlechner said.

The old station, built in 1968, was almost obsolete when it was built, he said.

“The roof was so low that when we went to buy a ladder truck we had to stick to specific measurements, otherwise we just couldn’t get it in the station.”

The new facility will have five and a half bays for emergency vehicles.

Parking was always a problem at the downtown station, Mutschlechner said.

“We would pull out the trucks to wash them and they were halfway in to the street,” he said.

Other space issues like equipment storage, training areas and administrative offices made for a cramped situation.

“It ain’t all just crank up the fire truck and pump water,” Mutschlechner said.

The new $5 million station will replace the current central facility, housing administrative offices, a training room, 13 bedrooms, a physical fitness room, bunker gear storage, maintenance room and a HazMat decontamination area.

“Expansion for the future, that’s what I’m really excited about,” Mutschlechner said.

Acting Fire Chief Len Nored said the city council will review what to do with the old station during the budget process.

“I’d love to see it stay open. It’s a great location in the downtown area,” Nored said.

San Marcos fire stations are located downtown on E. Hutchison Street, on Hunter Road and on Broadway Street.

Construction began in January for the Carlson Circle location and is scheduled for completion in March 2010. It will serve the corridor and the northeast area of San Marcos, officials say.

The facility was approved by voters in a 2005 bond election after being recommended by a blue ribbon bond committee. Stokes Construction of San Marcos was awarded the building contract.

The city credited former Fire Chief Mike Baker and a committee of fire department personnel as being instrumental in the design and development of the station.

Dan O'Leary and Todd Derkacz, former SMFR fire chiefs, laid the groundwork for the project through the Capital Improvements Program (CIP) process and bond election, city officials said.



History of the department

San Marcos Fire Rescue is the oldest city department, founded in 1873 as a volunteer department organized in three companies.

A 1906 Sanborn map of San Marcos said that the San Marcos Fire Department was composed of “50 volunteers, 1 paid man, 3 horses, 1 hook and ladder wagon, 2 hose wagons and 1,600 feet of good hose.”

In 1914 the station burned down, killing the fire horses. This caused the department to buy its first mechanized vehicle and build a Fire Station/City Hall on Guadalupe Street.

By the 1940s, the department had grown to more than 80 volunteers under the leadership of Chief Lewis Haynes, who served as chief of the department for 46 years.

The department still owns “Old Betsy,” an antique 1926 American LaFrance pumper, as well as a classic 1963 Ford Galaxy chief’s car.

Career firefighters came on the scene in the 1960s and the force has grown to fully staff four stations.