Plans for Celina’s 24-acre Public Safety Campus now include a Safety Town, an educational facility with scaled-down city streets, an interactive safety house and a fire truck to teach fire and pedestrian safety.

The essentials

An updated version of the city’s master plan for the campus was presented to Celina City Council members during a meeting on August 13.

According to meeting documents, Celina officials purchased the property used for the campus, which covers about 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 currently include:

• Police station headquarters
• Indoor shooting range
• Academy training building
• Pre-trial detention centre
• Fire Station No. 4
• Asset building
• Fire department administration building
• Security City
• Joint refueling center for fire department and police

Dive deeper

Justin Beamis, chief of training and logistics for the Celina Fire Department, said he has been to Frisco’s Safety Town several times and is excited to bring a similar concept to Celina.

“It’s always been my dream,” he said. “I was really excited about it, especially because of the educational side of it. My wife is a teacher, so I’m very proud of these things.”

Features of Frisco Fire Safety Town:

• A scaled-down version of the city with zebra crossings and roads so children can learn about road safety
• An interactive child-sized fire engine
• A safety house with a realistic living area, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom where children can learn about household hazards and severe weather.

Demonstrations at the safety house include firefighters filling a room with smoke to show how it spreads during a fire, said Deputy City Manager Kim Brawner.

“Safety Town” doesn’t have to be just for younger children — middle and high school students and adults also benefit from additional safety education, Beamis said.

“A (Safety Town) facility like this will allow us to reach all facets of the community, spread our message and keep everyone informed on the latest fire safety tactics,” Beamis said.