Austin Public Works, the Austin Fire Department, and Austin-Travis County EMS broke ground Wednesday on the Goodnight Ranch joint Fire/EMS station, the fourth of five high-priority stations being built to keep up with the city’s population growth. In May 2018, the Austin City Council passed a resolution to develop a plan to fund five new Fire/EMS stations over six years, placing a particular focus on areas with low response times and/or high population growth.
AFD Station #53/EMS Station #42 is the fourth in the series of stations born of that 2018 council resolution. The others include Del Valle/Moore’s Crossing (opened July 2020), Travis Country/Sunset Valley (opened July 2021), Loop 360/Davenport (slated to open Spring 2023). The fifth and final joint station planned for Canyon Creek and Highway 620 is still in the design phase.
District 2 Councilwoman Vanessa Fuentes expressed her excitement with this project: “One of the most important roles I play as a local leader is ensuring our communities have access to quick and reliable public safety. This new joint Fire/EMS Station will provide faster response times while addressing the City’s rapid growth, especially in our Southeast Austin communities. I’m proud to say that once completed, this station will be the second high-priority station built in Southeast Austin in the last three years.”
Completion of the five stations is expected to increase response times in areas that historically have dealt with long waits.
“Our goal is to respond to those we serve in eight minutes or less, 90 percent of the time,” said Fire Chief Joel G. Baker. “This latest addition to the public safety fabric of this community is an exciting development as we get closer towards the goal of seeing five new stations completed in six years. We are grateful to the Mayor, Council, City Manager, and all those who have worked so hard in making this station, as well as the others, a reality, and we look forward to being back at this site next year for the grand opening!”
Features of the new Goodnight Ranch station include:
-15,200 SF + training stairs;
-Four pull-through apparatus bays;
-Eleven Fire dorms; four EMS dorms;
-Common Day Room, Kitchen, and Gym;
-Parking for 21 station personnel; and
-Exterior space for station personnel
“This station is another important step in the right direction towards providing our residents with the most equitable deployment of EMS resources across the city,” said ATCEMS Chief Robert Luckritz. “We are so thankful to our City leaders and the residents of Austin for their support of this initiative and our department.”
