CONROE – Fire departments respond to various disasters in their areas, but River Plantation Fire Department station 171, was the scene of a catastrophe on Wednesday morning.
Montgomery County Pct. 2 Constable Gene Deforest said around 7:45 a.m., a greenskeeper for the River Plantation Golf Course was and sitting inside his vehicle, which was stopped in front of the fire station, when he decided to back up. Unfortunately, the man failed to notice the vehicle was in “drive” instead of “reverse” and he crashed through the front of the station. Deforest said the incident occurred on private property, so no citation was issued.
Asst. Chief Doug Zepeda of the River Plantation Fire Department said the two front bay doors were damaged, along with structural support. Two apparatus inside the station, an engine and a rescue truck, received what appeared to be only cosmetic damage. Both doors had to come off and special equipment was required to jack up the roof so the trucks could be removed.
Station 172 is RP’s main fire station, and is manned 24-hours a day. Station 171, the damaged station, is where additional trucks are kept, but no crew is standing by on location. Therefore, although Station 171 will not be in use for a while as it undergoes repairs, Zepeda said it will not affect service or response time to RP area residents in any way.
