Tanker trucks can carry up to 3,000 gallons of water to an emergency site.[/caption]

Harris County Emergency Services District 29—which does business under the name Champions ESD—  plans to open a second fire station by the end of 2019 and has purchased a $300,000 tanker truck for use in areas without fire hydrants.

The new 3,000-gallon capacity tanker will be housed at the fire station on Champion Forest Drive until the second station opens on Cutten Road, Fire Chief Dan Shelor said.

Champions ESD serves a 7.8-square-mile area between Stuebner Airline and Cutten roads.

The second fire station will help reduce response times near Hwy. 249, where population growth has been strongest, Shelor said.

“There’s been an explosive commercial growth,” Shelor said.  “We’ve been having an increase in [calls].”

The station will be built on land already owned by the department at a cost of $2.5 million to $3 million, from the department’s regular budget, Shelor said.

The tanker will be dispatched to structures that are more than 1,000 feet from a municipal water supply.

The ability to provide water at sites affects the district’s fire protection classification rating, which influences the station’s insurance premiums, Shelor said. Its current rating is 3 on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is the highest.