In February 2014, Williamson County Emergency Services District 8 developed a strategic plan to better serve its area on the outskirts of Georgetown. The ESD commissioners suggested more fire hydrants, the adoption of a fire code and a fire station of its own. Since the plans adoption about 20 fire hydrants have been installed in eastern unincorporated Georgetown, and ESD 8 is expected to adopt a fire code similar to the one approved by Georgetown City Council in summer 2014. ESD 8 contracts with the Georgetown Fire Department to provide services to the citys unincorporated areas, and the district is funded through property taxes. If you look at a map that shows our district were basically the outside of a donut, and the city is in the middle, ESD 8 Vice President Chris Stanley said. The district pays about 16 percent of the fire departments budget depending on the number of service calls GFD makes into the districts territory, he said. However, Stanley said the board is working to shift from a contract with the city to a partnership in which they would be able to combine assets. Plans to build its own station are on hold, he said. If we were to create our own fire station, 80 percent of our cost would be personnel, and it would break us within a fairly short period of time, Stanley said. We thought it makes more sense to work as a partnership with the fire department.

Implementing the plan

ESD 8 is in the process of installing more hydrants within its jurisdiction based on the distance from a water source and the number of surrounding structures. Georgetown has water tanks, and they can shuttle water, but your best-case scenario is to run off a hydrant and thats what were trying to do, Stanley said. Last spring the district began a two-phase installation program beginning in the Jonah Water Special Utility District. The district has installed 19 hydrants in the area, and by the end of the first phase it will have installed a total of 33. For its second phase, ESD 8 planned to install hydrants in the Chisholm Trail SUD but has postponed this project until later this year because of complications with the bid requirements, Stanley said. ESD 8 could approve a fire code as early as February, which will be based on what the city adopted in July. However the ESDs code has been modified to fit its jurisdiction, Stanley said. Rural folks live differently than city folks, and there are some things in the city requirements that we dont think should apply to the rural folks, he said. Stanley said the code ESD 8 adopts will also be subject to change in response to feedback from the community.

Meeting with other ESDs

ESD 8 is working to arrange meetings with other emergency service districts in the county to share ideas on how to improve. The idea for a meeting came about when the city and county entered discussions about GFD responding to emergency medical calls, Stanley said. We really do not have a dog in that hunt, but we do think that its important that all of the districts get together and we can talk about whatever issues there are to try to trade ideas, he said. Stanley said ESD 8 has suggested hosting the meetings two to four times a year.