Kempner Volunteer Fire Department celebrates opening of Station #3
By BRITTANY FHOLER
Cove Leader-Press
The Kempner Volunteer Fire Department officially opened their latest fire station, the Craft Family Fire Station #3, with a dedication ceremony on Saturday.
The fire station is located at 1705 F.M. 2313, near the intersection of F.M. 2313 and C.R. 3210. It is named after local resident Vanita Craft, who donated the 0.9-acre tract of land on which the 50-foot by 70-foot is located.
Local residents and supporters could enjoy a hotdog, sausage and hamburger lunch prior to the ceremony, and during the ceremony, Kempner Volunteer Fire Chief Dan Hause and board chairman Richard Rowland led the crowd in singing Happy Birthday to Craft, who turned 90 this week.
The group of volunteer firefighters then gathered to push one of the three apparatuses that will be housed at the station into the bay to commemorate the opening of the new fire station.
The Kempner Volunteer Fire Department serves an area spanning 108 square miles and had two other fire stations, one located at 315 S. Pecan St and the other at 5084 F.M. 2808 in Kempner. The need for a third fire station has been spurred by the boom in population and houses, according to Hause.
A third fire station will help increase response times for the volunteer firefighters, who are often responding from their homes and have to go to the fire station first to put on their gear before they respond to the call. For many Kempner residents, the railroad tracks crossing F.M. 2313 after leaving Highway 190 pose a hindrance in the response from the KVFD, and this fire station will offer a closer station on the other side of the railroad tracks from the other two stations.
Hause explained that this station will also offer homeowners who live in that area a way to lower their homeowner’s insurance premium, which is affected by numerous factors, including fire risk. Insurance companies use what is known as an ISO fire rating, which is a score provided to fire departments and insurance companies by the Insurance Services Office that reflects how prepared a community/area is for fires, focusing on proximity to fire departments and water supply, among other things.
The highest score is a 1 and the lowest score is a 10. Anything outside of the five-mile radius from a fire station gets a score of a 10, Hause said. If a home is located within five miles of a fire station, they automatically get a rating of 5, and then the other factors can be addressed to drop that number closer to a 1, Hause said.
“For every point that you come down, you can possibly save four to five percent off of your homeowners’ insurance, so if you look at going from a 10 to a 5, that’s at least 20 to 30 percent off of your homeowners’ insurance,” Hause said.
Hause added that this fire station in this location will also hopefully help the residents in this area feel as if they are part of the community.
The different businesses and individuals that helped make the fire station possible include Tayco Construction, Pechak Enterprises LLC, Whitley Steel Bldgs., Killeen Overhead Doors, Cove Plumbing, Cicneros Concrete, A.G. Irvin Steel Erection, Eagle Drywall and Foam, Atkinson-Wilson Homes, Clear Creek Construction, Timber Ridge Homes, Wolfe Septic, Marvin Jackson Plumbing, Miller’s Electric Service Co., J. Alexander, M. Jackson and R. Patterson. The total cost to Kempner Volunteer Fire Department for the construction of the third fire station was $117,234.33, plus $6,000 in donations. These businesses and individuals offered discounts that totaled up to $50,000 to $60,000, according to Hause.
The Kempner Volunteer Fire Department Craft Family Fire Station #3 will house a large brush truck, a tanker and a medical vehicle.
The Kempner Volunteer Fire Department has spent the past several years raising funds for the construction of this third fire station, and they will continue to raise funds at their annual barbeque and auction on April 30 at 315 Pecan Street for the completion of the parking lot and the entrance.