CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Cristina Sandoval is on kitchen duty at her "Reel Baffin Bay country store," complete with fishing supplies and a grill inside. You can grab a burger or some fried drum with fries and a margarita. Sandoval opened up her place with her husband Roland last August. She says business has been great because she points out the community is growing and has needed a fire station for some time.
"The fishing has been great and the hunting has been great so I feel with those two things going on I feel like this area is just growing a lot more with tourism and also people are starting to build out here wanting to get away from the big city," Sandoval said.
County Judge Rudy Madrid was able to a secure a state grant for just over $5 million. The money will be used to build a fire/EMS station here in Baffin Bay in the field behind Sandoval's business. The rest of the money will be used to renovate Fire Station 2 in Riviera. Over in Ricardo, County Fire Station 1 will be torn down and a new one built.
"Something long over due. It'll be a fire station, EMS station and it'll also be a shelter of last resort for those who don't heed the warning on impending hurricanes," Madrid said.
Patrick Guzman is in charge of operations for the county's volunteer fire department. He says the new fire station in Ricardo will help him be able to store valuable firefighting equipment that has been sitting in the elements for years.
"You can see we have our tractor which helps with wildland fires sitting outside, you know of a small canopy to cover it, [we] would be grateful," Guzman said. "We still have trucks outside and we have tropical storms come through, high winds and they are weathered."
Kleberg County Judge Rudy Madrid is hoping construction and renovation of the fire stations will begin by the first of next year.
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