Boots crunch over shattered glass as emergency responders head into the rubble. Fire fights against water, and black smoke billows into the sky. Roofs cave in, and another search and rescue team works their way through the dusty destruction inside. This is Disaster City, and every day brings new chaos for the emergency response professionals that train here. The mock community, facilitated by the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (TEEX), features full-scale, collapsible structures designed to simulate a variety of disasters, according to TEEX.org. Along with the adjacent Brayton Fire Training Field, the two facilities bring world-class emergency response training to College Station. This has allowed the College Station Fire Department (CSFD) to up its game over the last few decades, providing a variety of emergency services in College Station and beyond.
In addition to basic emergency operations and fire suppression, the six-station department provides emergency medical services (EMS), wildland firefighting, airport rescue, and technical rescue for the city of College Station, as well as hazardous material (HAZMAT) services for the greater Brazos Valley. That means these firefighters have to be prepared for anything and everything, says Stuart Marrs, an administrative captain and paramedic at CSFD.
With quick responses necessary at a moment’s notice, firefighters work around the clock, answering an average of 27 to 28 calls per day. “Across all of our stations, we answer 10,000 calls per year,” Marrs says. “Most calls happen during the day, and 70 to 80% are medical calls.” However, he adds, in a college town such as College Station, many other factors can impact the demand for emergency response. “We’re smack dab in the middle of the Texas Triangle — between Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston — so most of the events in town tend to attract a lot of attention from people living in those larger cities,” Marrs explains. “On a normal football game weekend, when Kyle Field is filled to capacity with 100,000 people, we see a significant increase in calls — all the way from Thursday through Sunday.”
The frequency of such large functions in the area — including not only sporting events but also music festivals, conferences, and more — can tend to take attention away from more pressing medical emergencies. Similarly, the reckless behavior of individuals in the Northgate bar district often requires minor medical services without the need for the resources of an entire ambulance. It was for these reasons CSFD decided to establish a bike team, Marrs says.
Seeing the local police force already had a similar team of their own, the fire department created an as-needed team of emergency response personnel to be available on-hand. “Now, we are able to provide a quickened response time for those highly populated areas, while also keeping the ambulance available for more serious emergencies,” Marrs says. “All in all, it’s made us a more reliable EMS department.”
The need for a HAZMAT team also came out of College Station’s particular environment. “With both the train and Highway 6 running through town, a lot of hazardous materials are being carried through the Brazos Valley on a daily basis,” Marrs says. “As a result, over 50 of our firefighters have been trained to be HAZMAT technicians, and we provide the HAZMAT team for the entire Brazos Valley.”
Yet another product of College Station’s location, the existence of Easterwood Airport to the west of Texas A&M has necessitated the organization of an airport rescue firefighting (ARFF) team, Marrs says. This type of firefighting involves the mitigation, evacuation, and rescue of passengers and crew of aircraft involved in any aviation-related accidents or incidents. Meanwhile, CSFD also provides personnel to external disaster relief organizations, such as Texas Task Force 1, providing urban search and rescue and the Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System, enabling a streamlined response between various local governments to provide mutual aid.
Training — and especially advanced training for these special teams — is more of a focus for the fire department during breaks in the academic year. “When the students leave for break, the town empties out,” Marrs says. “So, we’re not running as many calls, and we can focus on improving ourselves and the services we provide.”
Ultimately, all of this carries out the purpose of meeting the CSFD core values: Compassion, Service, Focus, and Dedication. The College Station Fire Department is about more than just fighting fire, it is about learning to serve the community well, Marrs says.
