A new fire station is coming to Padre Island soon. Nueces County Emergency Services District #2 is expanding from Flour Bluff and opening an additional fire station on Padre Island in the coming weeks. Currently, Corpus Christi Fire Department Station 15 is the only one on Padre Island, so some island neighbors are relieved to soon have more first responders in their area. The new station will be located on Compass Street, where the Christus Trinity Clinic currently is.
“I wish that they were here a year ago. I think the outcome might have been different," Sherry Culvahouse, a Padre Island neighbor said.
Sherry and Beau Culvahouse lost their 15-year-old daughter Kaylee on March 20, 2024, to Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy, or SUDEP. Kaylee was born with several other health complications, as well as epilepsy.
“So, she passed away on March 20, 2024, last year. She passed away from SUDEP, Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy. It’s a rare complication that happens to people with epilepsy," Culvahouse said.
On the evening of Kaylee's death, Culvaouse said it took first responders 16 minutes to arrive at their house on Padre Island after she made the 911 call. Culvahouse said the first responders from CCFD Fire Station #15 on the island were transporting another patient to a hospital on the Southside of Corpus Christi at the time she made the call about Kaylee. The next closest neighboring fire station, CCFD Fire Station #16, located along Highway 361 going towards Port Aransas, is also about a ten-minute drive away.
“Unfortunately, it took 16 minutes for them to arrive, which is usually not the case. I mean, they’re usually 3 minutes to 5 minutes. At this particular time, it was during the 5 o'clock rush hour and they were on the Southside of town," Culvahouse said. "Like I said, I love our EMS here on the island, Fire Station 15. They’re amazing; they’ve always been there for us. And I know their hands were tied that day. And I know that they would be there for us, but unfortunately, they were on the other side of town.”
Culvahouse said CCFD Fire Station #15 had responded to seven of Kaylee's previous seizures in the one year leading up to her death. Unfortunately, the eighth seizure is the one that took Kaylee's life.
“There’s that feeling that you know, maybe, you know, possibly it could have benefited Kaylee. She could still be here, you know, if we started the CPR sooner," Culvahouse said.
The Culvahouse Family is optimistic that the addition of Nueces County ESD #2's new fire station on Padre Island will benefit the whole community with more first responder resources, especially at high-volume times of year on the island.
"It would be nice because we just have a new community that's being built right now with more houses on the island, and spring breakers, and tourists, and you know, them having to go to over the bridge and go to a local hospital, its fifteen, sixteen minutes out. Having a backup would be amazing," Culvahouse said.
Nueces County ESD #2 is in the process of doing some minor renovations on the Christus Trinity Clinic building. The site of the new station will only be about half a mile from CCFD's Fire Station #15.
“We feel that any amount of emergency response improvement on Padre Island is a benefit to all the residents and business owners," Weston Beseda, the Nueces County ESD #2 Fire Chief, said.
Chief Beseda acknowledged that some neighbors may have concerns about their taxes going up because of this new project on the island.
"This project is not going to cost any additional tax money. There will be no tax raises. There will no requests for additional tax funds. We have worked hard to prepare this project without having to go to voters and ask for them, because we did do that once and we heard the voters when they voted down the request," Chief Beseda said. "We made the project plan to ensure that there would be no additional taxes or no additional request for taxes."
Chief Beseda said he hopes the Nueces County ESD #2 Station 92 on Padre Island will be up and running by Memorial Day weekend.
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