HUTTO, Texas (KXAN) — Hutto Fire Rescue is trying to keep up with the non-stop growth in the city. A new fire station is set to open and in the future it will break ground on a brand-new fire headquarters and administration building.
“When the face of the east side really started changing was back when SH 130 came in,” Hutto Fire Rescue Assistant Chief Rob Bocanegra said.
In the more than two decades Bocanegra has been with the team, he has seen first-hand what’s happening in Hutto.
“It was a yellow light at, what at the time was, 685 and Highway 79,” he said.
Fast forward 23 years and it is easy to see how the city is now a much different ball game.
“The growth is just crazy,” Bocanegra said. “The traffic is unbelievable. I don’t know how Highway 79 is going to handle it.”
Part of the response to that explosive growth is a new fire station opening soon near the Star Ranch neighborhood. It’s located at 161 Klattenhoff Lane. Bocanegra said he expects staff to start moving in during the middle of September, with a goal of operating out of it fully by Oct. 1.
“In a short span of time, [Hutto Fire Rescue] has added three stations since 2018,” he said.
Growing pains are also impacting the team’s administration building, which is currently renting two floors of an office building off Highway 79. It’s cramped and that’s why a new headquarters looms on the horizon.
“It will house the administrative staff, our training staff, the Fire Marshal’s office, and also the warehouse for all our equipment,” Bocanegra explained.
The new headquarters will be located in a current vacant piece of land at 1545 Chris Kelley Boulevard. It’s expected to take about a year to build and cost around $7 million.
With all the growth, nearby cities still help out when needed.
“Although we are slowly getting up to staffing where we can handle large events, we still rely on our agencies like Round Rock, Georgetown, Plfugerville and Taylor to help us out,” he said.
But Bocanegra also knows in another 23 years, things will all look very different.
Hutto Fire Rescue said in around five years it expects to serve around 80,000 people — that’s double the population currently served now.