Celina officials add safety city to Public Safety Campus master plan

A Safety City, an educational facility with mini-city streets, interactive safety houses and a fire engine to teach fire and pedestrian safety, is now included in plans for the 24-acre Celina Public Safety Campus.

The essence

An updated version of the city's master plan for the campus was presented to Celina City Council members during an Aug. 13 meeting.

According to meeting documents, Celina officials originally purchased the land used for the campus, which spans approximately 24 acres at the southwest intersection of Coit Road and Punk Carter Parkway, in 2019. The original campus plans were later approved in 2021.

Plans for the Public Safety Campus now They include:

• Headquarters of the commissariat
• Indoor shooting Poland
• Academy training building
• Detention center
• Firefighter No. 4
• Asset buildings
• Fire administration building
• City of Safety
• Joint police and fire department fueling center

Deeper dive

Justin Beamis, chief of training and logistics at the Celina Fire Department, said he has been in Safety City of Frisco many times and is excited to bring a similar concept to Celina.

“It's been a dream of mine,” he said. “I was really excited about it, especially on the educational side. My wife is a school teacher, so I'm very proud of that.”

The City of Frisco Fire Safety features:

• A scaled-down version of the city with crosswalks and roads for kids to learn about road safety
• An interactive, kid-sized fire extinguisher
• A safe house with a realistic living area, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom for children to learn about the dangers of the house and severe weather

Safe house demonstrations include firefighters filling a room with smoke to show how it spreads in a fire, Assistant City Manager Kim Brawner said.

Safety City doesn't have to be for the youngest kids — middle schoolers, high schoolers and adults will all benefit from additional safety education, Beamis said.

“Having a (Safety Town) facility like this will allow us to reach all those aspects of society and (be) able to get our message out and keep everyone up to date with the newest prevention tactics of fire,” Beamis said.