April 2003

Subdivision Access - What it means to you and your Fire Department

Please indulge me while I introduce the background for this article. The message is developed at the end, but to understand the massage you need to have some history.

Klein operates seven fire stations located throughout RFPD 16. The stations are numbered from one to seven. Actually they are numbered as 31, 32…….37. The number ‘3’ in front of the station number goes back to the assignment of numbers for the purpose of mutual aid identification in the County. KVFD radio calls and station numbers start with the number 3. Ponderosa is 6, Spring is 4, and so on.

The station numbers represent the sequence of their construction. That is, Station 31 was built first followed by 32 then 33 and so on until you reach station 37 which was built around 1998. All of the stations except 37 have been rebuilt a least once. All of these stations were built in established subdivisions with the exception of Station 31, which was built on donated land in the center of the fire district and has served as the administration headquarters as well a fire station. The first stations all owe their existence to dedicated volunteers and homeowners’ associations that wanted a fire station in their subdivision. No tax money was available back in the 60’s and 70’s so the money came from local subdivisions and the homeowner association donations. The neighborhoods took great pride in having a station in their subdivision. Today we honor these communities for their early commitment to KVFD. Our new pumper fleet carries the name of the subdivision in which the stations were built.

There was another reason for building fire stations in subdivisions. It had to do with the connectivity of the various subdivisions with each other, or the total lack of it. Early on as builders developed their properties, they tended to create limited entrances and exits to these new homes. It was intended to provide a sense of community and limit traffic into and out of the subdivision which some felt reduced crime and driving short cuts. Builders were, and are now reluctant to put in roads just for traffic flow or better “connectivity”.

So what does this mean to the fire department? A full response for a structure fire is usually three pumpers, a ladder truck and an equipment truck. The closest pumper is dispatched followed by the next closest units and so on. Without connectivity the second and third arriving units take longer to get to the scene and provide support for the first arriving volunteers. Fire stations had to be in the major subdivisions to overcome the lack of connectivity, intentionally designed into the community master plans. An early example of this problem was the lack of a connection between Memorial Chase and Memorial Northwest. Memorial Chase has Station 33 and it is very close to the back section of Memorial Northwest but a road over the flood control ditch was not built until the around 1995. The second and third responding units had a very long drive around the subdivision to get into the back section of either community. Connectivity was almost nonexistent up until the beginning of the 1990’s when the County built more roads in this area. New building had slowed and it was catching up time for the County.

And my point is……A serious problem exists today in the subdivisions collectively called Gleannloch Farms. It is one of the fastest growing and highest value developments in North Harris County. No entrance exists on the north and west sides of the subdivisions and only limited access from the east, which still has to be approached from the south. Homes built in the far northwest corner of the subdivision have only one-way in and out. All emergency access comes from one direction, south, off of Spring Cypress. Spring Cypress is under new construction for a major rebuild which will make a bad situation worse. Various community developers and/or Harris County need to provide a west entrance and a north entrance to Gleannloch Farms. Extending Champions Forest to Boudreaux and a west entrance off of Huffsmith Kohrville near Lacy will allow two pumpers to enter the back side of the subdivision without having to drive completely around to Spring Cypress and come in from the south.

Building a station in the back of Gleannloch is not an option as it was years ago. A small station, not having access outside of the subdivision would not be cost effective and have a hard time maintaining volunteer membership. It would not help with daytime fire coverage as this is provided for today from two central stations, located southeast and west of the area. When access is available from the north side, KVFD Station 35 will be relocated to better serve the north end of the this community.

To sum it all up, the rapid growth in the Klein community again has introduced problems with subdivisions that do not have multiple entrances just as the growth in the early 7O’s did. The area did some catching-up in the late 80’s and 90’s, but faces the same problems with new subdivisions which are growing north of Spring Cypress Road. Residents of these new communities should recognize these problems and encourage the Developers and County to add additional access to their neighborhoods to provide faster emergency services responses Don’t wait for 20 years like your neighbors to the south did.