BRAZOS COUNTY, Texas (KBTX) - A steady stream of community members gathered Monday evening as Brazos County Emergency Services District 1 officially opened its new Fire Station 1 and administrative headquarters at 6055 Koppe Bridge Road.

The $5. 3 million project marks a major milestone for southern Brazos County, transitioning the local department from an all-volunteer model to a full-time, staffed operation to keep up with surging emergency calls in rural neighborhoods.

District leaders stretched taxpayer dollars by retrofitting an existing building on the property before adding on new apparatus bays, restrooms and administrative space."This is our first station that we have that is purposely built to house firefighters, not just the trucks the way we did with the volunteer stations," said South Brazos County Fire Department Assistant Chief Chet Barker.