Fire Chief Palmer Buck, who has been with the department since 2019, said the department began to form while the community was still in its earliest stages, and its first firetruck was driven down from New York by the initial volunteers.
“In 1980, the first dedication public safety center was a trailer in a barn ... and then all the stations are all numbered in the order they were built,” Buck said. “So as the township grew by leaps and bounds, it kept expanding the fire department.”
The backstory
The Woodlands Fire Department saw its first paid fire chief join in 1975, and the department gradually transitioned from being all-volunteer to a paid staff.
Along the way, since 1973 the department has grown to a total of eight stations and an Emergency Training Station as well as adding a contract with the city of Shenandoah to provide fire response to that city.
One thing the department cannot do because it is not part of an incorporated city itself is to conduct its own fire investigations and some other measures, but it is able to work with Montgomery and Harris counties for those services, he said.
However, the department maintains an Insurance Services Office rating of 1, which is the highest rating offered to fire departments and which affects fire insurance costs for property owners, Buck said.
What’s happening
In 2023, the department formed a tenth company, meaning it now has 163 firefighters with four-person staffing on firetrucks. The growth means it can improve its response time in areas where growth has occurred in recent years.
“The tenth company allows us to have the depth and breadth for response on the back side,” Buck said. “It’s met and exceeded our expectations for response times and backup response times.”
In 2024, the department will also embark on rebuilding its Station No. 5, which is currently located on land where soil and fault line issues are causing structural damage. The $12 million rebuild will take place on township-owned land by the Sterling Ridge Park and Ride on McBeth Way.
What’s next
While single-family development in The Woodlands is largely built out, additional multifamily and commercial growth is ongoing, Buck said.
“The big thing is Town Center development,” he said. “The sky cranes are up for the 13-story building there; the 18-story Ritz-Carlton [Residences] is going to go [nearby], and the two new hotels and the mall expansion. So, we’re looking at the potential for multifamily dwellings being built and some more vertical development.”
In early 2023, The Woodlands Township and The Woodlands Mall discussed the potential for early 2025 groundbreaking on a project to expand the mall and add two new hotels to its footprint.
With taller buildings brings new challenges for fire response, Buck said. High-rise office buildings can bring an additional 20,000 to 30,000 people to the region’s daytime employment, but residential spaces tend to require more fire response than office buildings, he said.
“Unattended cooking, improperly discarded cigarettes ... the medical piece, too,” he said. “We provide first responder services; we are the only one in the county with a paramedic on every one of our units.”
In early 2024 the department will put together its vision for the coming years as the county continues to grow.
“As the whole county starts adding people, I suspect by 2024 that Montgomery County will be at a million if not sooner,” Buck said.
