New public safety and fire training facility will serve fast-growing Cibolo South area

City officials have said Cibolo is growing fast, with population growth so far concentrated North of FM 78.

But lately, expansion is happening in the opposite direction, in the area neighbors call Cibolo South.

“Half of our land within the City of Cibolo is south of FM 78,” said Bryan Hugghins, executive director of safety and infrastructure for the City of Cibolo.

Hugghins said more people means more businesses and homes that need emergency services such as fire protection, but the city’s three fire stations are located in Cibolo North.

“We need a facility that we can serve the citizens that live down in that area ... businesses that we have in that area, and we can serve the travelers that come through Interstate 10 when the need arises,” he said.

Cibolo voters agreed.

Two years ago, they approved the city to build a brand new almost $15 million public safety and fire training facility that will house a new police substation and the new Fire Station 4.

The new 15,000-square-foot Public Safety Facility and 4,000-square-foot new fire training facility are being built on Bolton Road near I-10.

Cibolo’s fire chief Mario Troncoso said the location will improve response times to emergency calls in Cibolo South.

“A couple of years back, we had an incident down there where we did have a structure fire. It took us 12 minutes to respond down there,” he recalled.

Troncoso said a main goal is to cut that response time considerably to six minutes or less.

Troncoso said the Cibolo Fire Department has 39 firefighters.

That number will increase thanks to a $1.8 million Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant.

The grant is provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Grant Programs Directorate to help fire departments increase the number of trained firefighters available to serve their communities.

Troncoso said his department will hire 12 new firefighters who will be assigned to the new public safety facility.

He added that, once built, Cibolo South will have a dedicated fire station, allowing the crew at Fire Station 1 to remain in its service area.

Currently, Fire Station 1 is closest to Cibolo South and also answers emergency calls in the area.

The new facility and additional firefighters will benefit more than just the city of Cibolo.

“We have agreements with New Braunfels, Seguin, Guadalupe County Fire Rescue, Selma, New Berlin, and Marion Volunteer Fire Departments,” he said.

With the new fire training facility under construction, Troncoso said his firefighters and those in surrounding areas will be able to train closer to home.

Hugghins said the groundbreaking is on the horizon.

“We just had an intent to bid out on our website, Hugghins said. ”So it closes November 3rd, and we’ll be evaluating the proposals that we received from construction companies, architects.”

Construction is slated to start in the new year.

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