City celebrates grand opening of new Round Rock fire station

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- The city of Round Rock just got a little more protection as it opened up a new fire station just north of downtown on Thursday.

Fire Station 1, located at 1730 E. Old Settlers Blvd., had its grand opening ceremony for the public, according to a news release from the city.

The city said it will house one battalion chief and fire crew, who are moving over from the Central Fire Station, which is located at 203 Commerce Blvd.

According to the city, two more fire stations will be built "in the coming years." The first is Fire Station 10, which the city said will be located near the intersection of Old Settlers Boulevard and Red Bud Lane. Fire Station 11 has not been announced, the city said, but will "meet the growing demand on the north side of Round Rock."

Round Rock Fire Chief Shane Glasier spoke on Thursday about what the new station means for the future of the booming community.

"It's a great day for us to be able to open a new station. We're relocating to improve services to the community. I don't want it to get confused as we're adding a new company, we're not. What we're doing is just relocating from a current location so that we can improve response times to the northeast section of Round Rock."

The city said it is able to build the two additional fire stations thanks to the approval of a 2023 bond project.