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McALLEN — As the city grows northward, so, too, do the services it offers, including fire safety. To that end, officials here gathered on a sultry Wednesday morning — the first official day of summer — to break ground on McAllen’s newest fire station.
“I’m really proud of our focus, again, in ensuring that we’re providing what this community needs,” McAllen City Manager Roel “Roy” Rodriguez said after he and a bevy of local dignitaries turned over golden shovelfuls of earth beneath a gleaming sun.
It was those public officials, and the ones who came before them, who had both the foresight and fortitude to begin planning for Fire Station 8 nearly a decade ago, the city manager said.
“The community should be really proud of their mayor and the city commission to stay focused. It’s easy to lose focus on projects that are this far down the road, but their courage is really second to none,” Rodriguez said.
The last time the city of McAllen opened a new fire station was 14 years ago in 2009, according to newly minted Fire Chief Juan Angel Gloria.
“It’s a tremendous day for us,” Gloria said, absolutely beaming as he stood in the empty field that will, by the end of 2024, be the home to the new fire station.
The fire station will sit in the very heart of McAllen’s northernmost neighborhoods — part of the master planned Tres Lagos community, where high-end housing is set to meet with bespoke retail and manicured walking trails.
Already, new homes lie sprawled along winding lanes to the east and west of the site. Just a few hundred yards to the north lies Texas A&M Education Center at McAllen.
As Gloria addressed Wednesday’s groundbreaking attendees, the sound of heavy machinery could be heard behind him, busy with the work of adding to Tres Lagos.
At first, the 10,500-square-foot station will be home to just one fire engine and its crew of four, Gloria said. But there will be room to add additional apparatus, such as a brush or tanker truck.
The new station will also reflect the needs of a diversified demographic of firefighters.
For the first time in McAllen’s history, Fire Station 8 will include amenities for women firefighters, including dorms and restrooms.
Currently, just one woman firefighter serves in the department, but more are expected to join the ranks.
“The fire service in general has been evolving, and the McAllen Fire Department is no exception,” Gloria said, describing her as “a firefighter, just like any other member of this department.”
A few years ago, the idea of building a fire station this far north wasn’t even idle fantasy.
Rodriguez, the city manager, said he remembered when Fire Station 7 first opened its doors on North Bentsen Road about three miles south of State Highway 107.
“We thought we were way out there, and here we are (now), three or four miles north, and we still have a long way to go,” Rodriguez said.
Planning for Fire Station 8 began about eight years and “two fire chiefs ago,” under Fire Chief Rafael Balderas, who retired in March 2020, Rodriguez said.
That planning continued under Balderas’ successor, Fire Chief James Schultz, who retired in February.
Though he only served two years as chief, Schultz had been a McAllen firefighter for more than three decades, working his way up from cadet to the leader of the department.
Gloria shares a similar history of rising through the ranks.
He was assistant chief when Schultz stepped down. He served as interim chief while McAllen began its search for a new leader.
More than a dozen applicants tried for the job, Rodriguez said, including a number of candidates from within the department.
“We had many internal candidates apply for this job. Any one of them could do this job because they’re trained the way McAllen trains them,” the city manager said.
Ultimately, Gloria’s more than two decades with the department, and his intimate knowledge of its inner workings made him the city’s top choice.
“He knows the community. He knows our culture. He knows the people and he knows the firefighters,” Rodriguez said.
But the decision came without any fanfare, without any official announcement.
Gloria was taking a cue, perhaps, from one of his mentors, the late Shawn Snider, who served as the Edinburg fire chief for nearly 24 years.
Described by many as humble, but ever reliable and faithful — to firefighting, to his family and to his faith — Snider died last month after a years-long battle with cancer.
Gloria was one of Snider’s many mentees to serve as a pallbearer during the funeral.
Now, as the face of firefighting is changing and as McAllen continues to grow, the city has a new chief to lead it forward.
“(It) is a tremendous honor. It’s a very humbling experience. It’s a lot of responsibility,” Gloria said.
To see more, view Monitor photojournalist Joel Martinez’s full photo gallery here:
Photo Gallery: McAllen breaks ground on Fire Station 8 under new chief
