by SEAN KIMMONS

Fires beware: The mammoth 21,000-square-foot Kyle Fire Station #1 on Main Street is now in service.

At $3.6 million, Kyle’s newest fire station boasts enough room for six fire and rescue vehicles in its three large bays and 13 bedrooms for firefighters on rest between calls. A large classroom in the building offers room for training courses.

“For this side of town, it helps response times,” Kyle Fire Department Chief Glenn Whitaker said of the new station. “It’s also a good training facility with adequate space for training.”

The department now has three fire stations and more than 70 firefighters. Only 19 of them are full-time paid employees while the rest serve voluntarily.

Whitaker says that six firefighters will be on duty during the day with two on the nightshift at the new station. To keep up with the growing city, the department plans to hire more in the future with funds generated by the Emergency Services District #5, not city taxes.

“I’m sure there are people out there that think it’s too big,” Whitaker said of the new station. “We’re trying to build it for the future, instead of adding on to it later.”

The station may even help lower home insurance premiums for residents within ESD #5. The Texas Department of Insurance uses a rating system known as the Insurance Services Office, or ISO, to grade the effectiveness of a fire department in its area.

The lower the grade, the better chance insurance premiums will be reduced. The ratings are from the best at one to the worst at 10. The Kyle department currently stands at six in the city and nine in rural areas. The Buda Fire Department recently slashed its rate down to a three, following construction of new fire stations and other improvements.

“We’re in the process of doing a re-rate,” Whitaker said. “I’m hoping to get it done this year.”

The two-story fire station is named after two local firefighter legends: James Miller and George Whitaker, who have since passed away. Both men joined the department in 1946 and served more than 50 years as volunteers.

“They were in before we had any paid positions,” Whitaker said of Miller and his father, George.

Whitaker said he had no idea that the station would honor his late father.

“It’s pretty neat,” he said. “It was a total surprise to me.”

Bartlett Cocke, of Austin, which has built all of the Hays CISD schools in the past 10 years or so, constructed the station, Whitaker said.