The gist
An updated version of the city’s master plan for the campus was presented to Celina City Council members during an Aug. 13 meeting.
Celina officials first purchased the land being used for the campus, which spans roughly 24 acres at the southwest intersection of Coit Road and Punk Carter Parkway, in 2019, according to meeting documents. The original campus plans were approved later in 2021.
Plans for the Public Safety Campus now include:
- Police station headquarters
- Indoor shooting range
- Academy training building
- Detention center
- Fire Station No. 4
- Asset buildings
- Fire administration building
- Safety Town
- Shared fire and police department fueling center
Diving deeper
Justin Beamis, Celina Fire Department’s division chief of training and logistics, said he has been to Frisco’s Safety Town multiple times and is excited to bring a similar concept to Celina.
“It's been a dream of mine,” he said. “I've been super excited about this, especially the education side. My wife’s a school teacher, so I take a lot of pride in this stuff.”
The Frisco Fire Safety Town features:
- A scaled-down version of the city with crosswalks and roadways for children to learn about street safety
- An interactive, kid-sized fire engine
- A safety house with a realistic living area, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom for children to learn about home hazards and severe weather
The Safety Town does not have to be for younger children—middle schoolers, high schoolers and adults will benefit from additional safety education, Beamis said.
“Having a [Safety Town] facility like this will allow us to reach all those facets of the society and [be] able to get our message out and keep everybody up to date with the most new fire prevention tactics,” Beamis said.
