Forney commissions multi‑month fire station coverage study as population and calls climb

Forney city leaders heard a detailed interim report on a fire station coverage study Tuesday that models current performance, projects future demand and tests potential station locations as the city and its emergency services district experience rapid population growth.

The study, led by Michael Rainey of Michael Rainey and Associates and commissioned jointly by the City of Forney and Kaufman County Emergency Service District No. 6, is measuring current response capacity against National Fire Protection Association standards and simulating how additional stations and apparatus would affect performance over the next decade.

"For the council, as an update, for the standard to cover by definition, we're looking at the distribution and concentration of fixed and mobile resources within the agency," Rainey told the council. He said the team is comparing current performance to authoritative benchmarks such as NFPA 1710 and NFPA 1720 and projecting results through 2030.

Why it matters: Rainey's presentation tied the study to recent growth and rising demand in the Forney service area. The consultant reported a 78% increase in incident assignments from 2019 through 2024 and noted that the city has seen what he described as a roughly 51% population increase inside city limits from 2020 to 2023. Those changes are concentrated in particular corridors, moving population density farther from existing stations and increasing calls where people are clustered.

Key findings and figures - Service area and land: The team estimated roughly 72.5 square miles in the primary service area, with about 56.5 square miles inside the emergency services district and about 16 square miles within the city limits. - Call-volume growth: Rainey reported a 78% increase in incident assignments from 2019–2024; the district's assignments rose 157% over that period while the city saw a 37% rise overall. - Station performance: Newly opened Station 3 was credited with a large increase in assignments; Rainey cited a 257% jump for Station 3 in the most recent year. - Call mix: Medical and EMS‑related responses accounted for about 40% of calls; the top 20 incident types represented about 87% of all assignments in the analysis.

Rainey said the study will test five district‑nominated areas plus four city‑nominated candidate sites and run sequence‑of‑implementation scenarios to determine which combination and timing of station additions would yield the best operational return on investment. He also noted the team is coordinating with Kaufman County GIS to isolate district and city boundaries properly for the modeling.

Next steps and timeline Rainey outlined a phased schedule: the consultant will deliver a baseline performance report next month, compare that baseline to benchmark targets in July to quantify gaps, and present a formal plan to close those gaps in August. He said a full projection analysis within about 90 days will show how proposed stations could reinforce one another or render other sites redundant.

Council and staff participation Chief Holcomb introduced the work and thanked the consultant and the Emergency Service District for collaboration; board members Rick Barnes, Dana Curry and District President Mario Luna attended the presentation. Rainey repeatedly thanked local leaders for data access, saying the department's incident records allowed the study to progress quickly.

What the study does not decide Rainey emphasized the report is analytical and will recommend options; final site selection, budget approvals and staffing decisions would require additional council action. "We will be establishing a plan to improve and close that gap," he said, describing the study as preparatory analysis rather than a final decision.

Speakers quoted in this article spoke during the Forney City Council meeting and are listed below in the speakers section. The study will return to the council with further analyses and recommendation options in the months ahead.