After serving the Katy community for more than 30 years and planning on continued growth, Westlake Volunteer Fire Department is planning to move into a new building in the next few years.

A sign on Saums Road almost directly across from the station at 19703 Saums Road states that the undeveloped property is the future site of Westlake Fire Department. The department's governing board, Harris County Emergency Services District No. 47 (ESD), has purchased the property with the plan to build a new station in the next 2-4 years.

Westlake Fire Chief Mark Palmer said the ESD board members will be interviewing several architect firms within the next two months as the first phase of the project.

"I'm hoping to have a fire station that not only provides the needs of our department but to also to be utilized as a community meeting site," Palmer said.

No specific details about the station have been determined yet but the long-range plan of the department has been to create a permanent structure for the department. The current station was constructed with the intent of eventually building a brick-and-mortar facility.

Established in 1975, Westlake Fire Department was created by residents of Westlake off of North Fry Road. About 20 people started the station to serve the community and the department now has more than 80 volunteers and members.

Since Palmer has led the department, he has committed his members to serving the community in other ways aside from fire protection. The department has done many fundraisers for families in the community, helped a large family with shelter and basic needs after Hurricane Katrina, provides Christmas gifts, serves a Thanksgiving meal to Houston's homeless men and women, and recently started providing heart screens for teens to identify a potentially fatal heart condition.

The Heart Screens for Teens program has provided reduced-cost screenings for more than 400 Katy-area teenagers so far. Palmer said there will be two more screenings this summer - Aug. 3 and 5 from 3 - 7 p.m. at the station.