SILSBEE, Texas — Progress is being made on a plot of land that will soon be the new home to the Silsbee Fire Volunteer Department.
The site is located along 5th street and highway 418.
A project two years in the making will house many new amenities, beneficial to Southeast Texas firefighters.
"Thee new fire station is gonna be a great thing for us, we are real excited about it. At the same time we are here to support this community, any way we can," said Silsbee Fire Chief Robin Jones.
Construction crews started in January, prepping the land to build a state-of-the-art facility.
"We tried to build a station that would fit all of our needs and the needs 20 years from now. The station coming will have rooms upstairs for dormitories and if we have showers and restrooms," Jones said.
The new fire station will be two stories tall and will have dorms for volunteer firefighters to sleep in.
Detective Carlos Montalvo with the Silsbee Police Departments know just how important accessibility is for the community.
"Not only the main roads here in Silsbee, but if they need to do mutual aid in Kountze, Lumberton, Spurger, Evadale, they are centrally located here, and makes it easy to respond to those calls," Montalvo said.
The facility is being built with natural disasters in mind and will be able to withstand winds up to 140 miles per hour.
"If a category 3 or 4 storm hit, there was a chance the buildings couldn't withstand the winds. So, that's when plans started playing out. Oh, we really need this new building," Jones said.
The money to pay for the construction is coming from Silsbee sales tax.
Firefighters are expected to move in to the new station November 2023.
Since 2003, Silsbee Fire and Rescue has occupied the building at the corner of Payne Road and North 11th Street.
“This building is still a nice building and everything but we're growing," Jones previously told 12News.
In 2021, Silsbee ISD's board of trustees sold the property where the old Kirby Elementary School once stood to Hardin County Emergency Services District Six.
"I think that it just shows the community support that we have, they could have went a lot of different directions with that property and for them to come our direction with it we are truly thankful for that," said Matt Dulaney, President of Hardin County Emergency Service District 6.
The 13.5-acre piece of land sold for its appraised value of $869,000.
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