CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Blanconia is a small ranching community right in the middle of a triangle known as Beeville, Goliad and Refugio. A Baptist church there has been around since 1855. Just a few hundred feet south along FM 2441 is St. Catherine Catholic Church built in 1926. Down at the corner of 2441 and Highway 202 is the community center which is not only a meeting place but it stores some of the history of the area. Sitting right next to it used to be the Volunteer fire department—that is, until Hurricane Harvey hit.
Fire Chief Johnny Young stayed in the community center during Harvey as the storm roared thru and tore up the fire station next door.
"Our house was shaking and rattling," Young said. "We came to this place and stayed the night while this building came apart. A tornado we suppose is what came through here and ripped the building apart.”
Now, after nearly 7 years, the fire station is being re-built. FEMA finally agreed to pay to have the fire station rebuilt.
Project Engineer with Lynn Engineering, Joseph Rodriguez, said this new one should withstand a hurricane.
”We’re having more bigger and nastier storms so everything‘s getting built to withstand, you know these greater storms and things like that," Rodriguez said. "So, this thing will definitely be you know, sturdy. A lot sturdier than it was."
The old fire station was built back around 1998. It wasn’t insured and that’s part of the reason it took so long to rebuild.
And why Blanconia Volunteer Fire Department President, Judy Gray, said firefighters have been keeping the station's equipment parked outside of their homes.
"We’ve struggled to keep our little fire department together, and some of our more prolific donations have fallen off because the older generation passes away and sadly the next generation up was like well I don’t know why they were giving you money," Gray said. "You know so it’s harder to find folks that want to be beneficial to our little department.”
The engineer for this project said Blanconia should have its new fire station ready for action by the middle of February.
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