“We can’t do that necessarily with the same number of resources,” Sullivan said.
The GFD receives both priority, or emergent, calls for service along with nonpriority, or nonemergent, calls.
When a priority call comes in, first responders have a goal of arriving at the scene in nine minutes or less. This is because severe brain damage is more likely to occur after nine minutes, and fires can double in size by the minute, Sullivan said.
The GFD has a cost-sharing agreement in place with Williamson County Emergency Services District No. 8, which allows the department to provide services to residents of the city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction and those inside city limits, ESD 8 President Bobby Bunte said.
Bunte said the department is looking to build more fire stations in strategic areas to improve response times.
"Quick response times are essential to saving lives,” Bunte said. “In a cardiac event, time is life.”
In 2024, Georgetown’s emergent medical responses by ambulances exceeded the nine minute goal 28.7% of the time, according to GFD data.
Georgetown’s size, topography, roads, construction and traffic all play into the department’s ability to arrive on scene quickly, Sullivan said.
Sorting out details
The GFD has seven fire stations throughout its 140-square-mile coverage area.
“If I look at that 140 square miles that we serve, there’s roughly 32% or so that are more than 3 miles from a fire station,” Sullivan said. “Those are also areas that are becoming more densely populated.”
City officials are proposing Fire Station No. 8 be constructed near Wolf Ranch and begin design in fiscal year 2025-26, Capital Improvement Project Manager Jennifer Bettiol said in an email. The anticipated time frame from starting the station’s design to opening it is about three years, she said.
Fire stations range between $8 million-$10 million per site, while fully equipped fire engines and ambulances cost about $1.7 million and $450,000, respectively, Sullivan said.
Given available funding, officials will consider beginning Station No. 9’s design in 2028 or 2029, Bettiol said.
Each station will be funded through certificates of obligation, Bettiol said, which do not require voter approval.
Offering input
The majority of the department’s staff are cross-trained as both firefighters and paramedics, Sullivan said.
Fountainwood resident Kyla Elston’s mother has been fighting ovarian cancer for over a decade. As a result, Fire Station No. 5’s medical team has made multiple visits to her parents' home near Indian Springs Road over the past couple of years.
“We’ve never waited over seven minutes,” Elston said. “Of course, I wish it was shorter, but being realistic, I think it’s an excellent response time. It’s shorter than I would actually anticipate given all of the growth and the traffic and the red lights.”
As an ETJ resident, Elston said she believes in adjusting expectations for first responders given her distance from city services.
“I chose to live outside the city limits, and then [I] get mad at them because they can’t get there fast enough?” Elston said. “That’s unreasonable.”
Elston said every experience she’s had with the department has been positive.
“They’re really good at what they do,” Elston said.
The bottom line
The GFD serves 140,000 people, which currently equates to 20,000 people served per fire station.
If an additional station is not added by 2030, that number would increase to 30,000 people per station, Sullivan said at the February City Council meeting.
“That’s not really a doable mix,” he said. “It’s far too many people for us to have emergency service providers respond to.”
Bunte said the department has discussed placing teams of paramedics in areas with high call volume to help with response times.
If the department is unable to keep pace with demand, Sullivan said his department will be honest about response time expectations.
“We’d like to save a life, but when we can’t save a life, we hold the hand and we try to comfort and love on the family,” Sullivan said. “We’re going to do our best.”
