CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Corpus Christi Fire Chief Brandon Wade told 3NEWS he appreciates "the backing" of city council when it comes to approving manpower and equipment requests for the department. He says the support is vital to continue to be able to hire more firefighters and ensure they have the equipment they need to do their jobs.
"What we have had with the City is a commitment to continue to upgrade our facilities so our firefighters can work out of," Wade said.
The chief said many fire stations are being replaced around town because they’re too old and worn out.
The new Fire Station 3 on Morgan Avenue is going to be finished in the spring of 2025. Along Kostoryz Road, Fire Station 8 will also be replaced with a new one built down the street at Kostoryz and McArdle. Construction is on track to begin on a new Fire Station 10 near its current location on Horne Road and Greenwood Drive.
"We have a response time goal of making 90 percent, roughly, of our incidents within eight minutes," Wade said. "Fortunately, we are able to go and exceed the core of the city where we have fire houses strategically located throughout."
He’s also excited about the three new ambulances and a fire engine pumper that are going to help upgrade his fleet of emergency vehicles.
Battalion chiefs are also getting new Ford F150’s with updated technology to help better manage fire scenes.
"Right now, we have five of the new command vehicles, response vehicles coming in, and they are in the city, they are being outfitted with the radios and the computer equipment put on it.” Wade said.
Each one of those vehicles will be equipped with a decked truck bed with a rollout drone operation center.
Councilman Jim Klein said it’s important that our firefighters have what they need to do their job. He believes there’s more the city could do for the department.
"I think we need to look more at this down the road at the retirement pensions," he said. "We gave them a bump in retirement pay last year. I think that was the first time since 2004 thereabouts and they haven’t even had a cost-of-living increase."
Klein also believes that city council needs to revisit that issue next year to make sure the City is keeping up with inflation and rewarding those who help to protect property and save lives.