Pecos County assigns its own firefighters to Coyanosa

COYANOSA, Texas (KOSA) -The Pecos County Commissioners Court approved to have a substation of Fort Stockton Volunteer Fire Fighters near Coyanosa.

The fire station in Coyanosa has been inactive for ten years, but now the county is ready to upgrade it.

The Fort Stockton volunteer firefighters said every second counts.

So to be able to respond quickly, compared to the 20 to 30 minutes they usually take to respond to fires in Coyanosa, could save lives.

There’s no fire station in the area, any fires reported in Coyanosa are put out by the Fort Stockton Volunteer Fire Department.

To avoid any delays, Pecos County decided to make a change.

“There’s so many volunteers Fort Stockton firefighters that work out here in the area, so if we can knock off 20 minutes of drive time, it could save people’s lives. Save people’s properties.” said Pecos County Commissioner, Nathan Reeves.

Even though this unincorporated area has a population of a little over 200 people, it’s still a hot zone for fires breaking out.

“In fact, this past year, we’ve had maybe 30 to 40 fires because of the oil industry. pretty much all of them have been oil industry related fires. some grass fires, and a couple of structure fires up here in this area.” said Fort Stockton Volunteer Fire Department, Fire Chief, Jessie Dominguez.

Even though these volunteers could respond quicker, they also have their daily jobs to focus on.

Which is why they’re looking for more volunteers that can help out.

Especially volunteers that grew up in Coyanosa like Liandro Castaneda, who’s been with the Fort Stockton Fire Department for almost ten years.

“To me it hits home very hard because of the family and of course everyone here in Coyanosa is a pretty tight knit community. Friends so you know it makes it that much more important to have something here to help,” said Castaneda.

This station is expected to go through upgrades in the near future.

With the front extended to add a second fire truck inside and to clean the station for the volunteers to move in.

If you are a Coyanosa resident, you may know that there’s a small gym inside the fire station.

Commissioner Reeves says they plan to upgrade it for the fire department but also for the community.

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