Construction set to start within months for Humble Fire Station No. 2

Construction on the roughly $6.13 million replacement of Humble Fire Station No. 2 is set to begin by early 2023 as city officials finalize contract agreements with Harris County.

Humble City Manager Jason Stuebe said the city hopes to break ground on the 12,000-square-foot facility, to be located at 1401 S. Houston Ave., by late December or early January. Stuebe estimated the project would take one year to complete.

“The facility will be a state-of-the-art, full-service fire station serving both [fire] suppression and emergency medical services needs,” Stuebe said. “It’s an extraordinary upgrade beyond what we are currently operating out of at [Humble Fire] Station 2.”

The replacement for Fire Station No. 2 was first approved by Humble City Council in May 2021. According to Humble Fire Department Chief David Langenberg, the current station on Wilson Road poses several challenges for the department as it was originally built in 1974 and was designed to be used as a storage garage for fire engines. The facility has since been adapted into a station.

While the current facility only houses an EMS unit, the new station will house both fire and EMS.

“We’ll have an even number of fire apparatuses and EMS apparatuses split up over the whole city, giving us better coverage,” Langenberg said.

Additionally, Langenberg said a training component will be built outside the new station.

Originally projected to cost $4.5 million when it was designed in 2018, Stuebe said supply chain issues and inflation have caused the new station’s cost to rise.

The city will still receive $4.5 million through a Texas General Land Office grant to help fund the project, but Stuebe said recent efforts to procure additional funding from Harris County and the state to address the cost increase have fallen short.

Humble City Council members approved a budget amendment in September to fund the remainder of the project, requiring officials to transfer funds from the city’s $52.2 million budget surplus to make up the difference.