Our History

From the 1980's to the early 2000's, the northwestern most region of Travis County, located on the North Side of Lake Travis, was served by three separate emergency service entities: Travis County ESD #1 which covered the city and community of Lago Vista, North Shore Fire & Rescue which covered the city and community of Jonestown, and the Sandy Creek Fire Department located off of Nameless Road. North Shore Fire & Rescue and Sandy Creek Fire Department were volunteer fire departments contracted by Travis County ESD #7, while Travis County ESD #1 (Lago Vista Fire) was a combination department with both paid and volunteer firefighters. In 2003 North Shore and Sandy Creek were combined into one fire department under Travis County ESD #7. In 2005 an election was held to combine Travis County ESD #1 and Travis County ESD #7. This merger was the beginning of, what is now, Travis County ESD #1. In 2017, the citizens voted to bring back Travis County ESD #7 in an overlay election to establish a much-needed EMS district. Travis County ESD #7 contracts with Travis County ESD #1 which allowed Travis County ESD #1 to hire paramedics and purchase ambulances that provide Advanced Life Support to our citizens.

Travis County ESD #1 is a career fire department that covers 178 sq. miles of Travis County from the Cedar Park City Limits on the east, to the Burnet County Line on the west and the Williamson County Line on the north. The southern boundary is Lake Travis where we are responsible for over 40 miles of shoreline around the lake. There are seven fully staffed fire stations strategically placed throughout the district. These stations are staffed by full time paid Firefighter/EMT's and Firefighter/Paramedics that work a rotating schedule of 48 hours on duty and 96 hours off duty.