The City of Canyon was able to meet their goal — set before the recent $14 million Public Safety Bond Issue passed in 2025 — of having a fully staffed, 24-hour fire station. It came from hard work and an extremely well-run campaign designed to inform citizens of the needs of the city, which has doubled in recent years.
Canyon Fire Chief Dennis Gwyn said passing the bond and adding the needed firefighters will greatly increase the speed of their response time.
“Prior to this, we had firefighters and volunteers that would take home vehicles to respond from their houses, so now was have 24-hour staffing,” Gwyn said. “I came in as fire chief about 5 ½ years ago, and that was one of my goals. We finally have our staffing levels to the point where we can have four firefighters on duty at a time, and they’re working 48 hours on and 96 hours off.”
Gwyn said that city management and commission had been working with the department to make those things happen. “It’s been a very positive experience, and they understand the need of getting us where we need to be. There are three shifts operating now, so we’re a little short, but we went ahead and decided to start at 24-hour staffing.”
The need for more firefighters and space has been in the works for some time. That became a necessity when the city ran into a serious drop in their insurance rating (ISO), which determines cost of insurance for inhabitants of the city. When their good “two” rating dropped to a four due to the lack of personnel and response ability, it became a matter of concern, according to City Manager Joe Price.
If it stayed at that lower rating, it could have meant a 15% to 20% increase in property insurance costs for citizens. Improvements were needed in manpower, having a ladder fire engine and other necessities put forth in the bond issue. A key factor was needing living quarters to accommodate the 24-hour staffed department, new fire training classrooms, facilities and firetruck bays. A new training facility with a burn house also helps increase training opportunities.
“We will file for a new ISO rating in a couple of months, and with us being on the verge of a two rating now, just the fact that we have 24-hour staffing should get us back up to the two rating,” Gwyn said. “The voter approved bond election gave us the ability to order a new fire engine, which should be here by August of next year.”
They also have had a grass fire truck on order for three years and are hoping to receive it by March or April, to add to their firefighting power.
Changes to the firefighters building will be starting soon with planners, engineers and architects coming through and making a floor plan, but no walls have been knocked down yet.
“We’re in a 50-year-old building, but it’s still a good, sound building,” Gwyn noted.
For quite some time, the smaller staff had been working from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., seven days a week using volunteer firemen. Chief Gwyn remarked at the time that they had more equipment than firefighters.
“Last year we ran over 1,700 calls,” Gwyn said in 2023, which was a record year for them at the time. “We’ve seen that type of growth every year over the past seven years.”
The Police Department was also in need of a bigger facility, with officers having to share offices and other problems. The issue was solved when the Gold Star building down the street came up for purchase and consequently became part of the improvement plan, without the city having to build a new structure.
In 2025, the City of Canyon launched a full-throttle awareness campaign directed at public safety ahead of the bond election. Part of the awareness plan included holding tours and open houses for the proposed police and fire department upgrades, including new truck bays, training areas and an animal shelter, to inform voters of the need for public safety improvements. Tours were conducted during April.
Staff met with individuals and groups, hosted talking sessions and hit the airwaves with their message. In May 2025, the effort paid off.
Now, the fire department is working to speed up their response time to emergencies with a 24-hour staffed facility.
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Canyon Fire meets goal of 24-hour shifts thanks to public safety bond
Reporting by Nell Williams, Amarillo Globe-News / Amarillo Globe-News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
