Marble Falls officials release state of city's fire protection services
Contributed
Marble Falls Fire Rescue personnel participated in a course in 2019 to sharpen tight-space and other rescue skills as part of the entity's enhanced efforts for comprehensive training. Pictured, from left, are: Fire Capt. Sam Stacks and Engineer Randy Rankin.
By Connie Swinney
Staff Writer
Marble Falls Fire Rescue unveiled the state of local fire service with several new personnel, facility upgrades and training features during the entity's annual report to city leaders.
Marble Falls Fire Rescue Chief Russell Sander made the presentation to city council members recently, detailing strides the agency has taken during the past year.
Facility enhancement included replacement of all self-contained breathing apparatus; flooring upgrades; LED lighting replacement; and a secondary exit on the exterior of the fire hall, 700 Avenue N.
“A lot of the stuff was done internally by the staff,” Sander said.
The entity was awarded a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) SAFER (Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response) grant to hire three firefighters and purchase a new squad SUV for better response.
A critical education component for the staff included a confined space rescue and swift water rescue training program, funded through a Lower Colorado River Authority grant.
“Now that we've had the training, we're providing a service to our community that wasn't there,” Sander said. “We had to wait for someone to come out of Austin for confined space rescue.” . . .
Find the rest of the report in the Tuesday, April 16 issue of The Highlander, the newspaper of record for the Highland Lakes.
