Cottonwood Shores turns to Horseshoe Bay for fire services
The Horseshoe Bay Central Fire Station, located at 1 Community Drive, is one of two fire stations in the city. Staff photo by Maci Cottingham.
Cottonwood Shores will rely on Horseshoe Bay for all fire and emergency medical services starting on April 1 under a freshly finalized agreement aimed at ensuring reliable first-response coverage for residents. The change comes as Cottonwood Shores attempts to rebuild and restructure its own fire department following years of struggling to provide effective services.
Horseshoe Bay City Council agreed to provide the services during its last meeting on March 17 and Cottonwood Shores City Council signed off on March 19.
“The contract is a means to an end,” Horseshoe Bay Fire Chief Doug Fowler told DailyTrib. “The end state in Cottonwood Shores is a viable emergency response organization who participates as a reliable contributing member of the “system.” The system is five agencies, hopefully six soon, responding to all large incidents in South Burnet County as one functional department.”
Under the new three-year agreement, Horseshoe Bay will provide firefighting, rescue, and emergency medical services to the city of Cottonwood Shores at an annual cost of $173,817.12. Fire marshal services are not included. The contract includes performance measures to help Cottonwood Shores rebuild its own emergency response capacity, with a long-term goal of transitioning to a combined full-time and part-time fire department by March 31, 2029.
Background
Cottonwood Shores became increasingly dependent on neighboring agencies in recent years as staffing and certification issues left the city’s volunteer fire department unable to fully meet the community’s needs. These lopsided dependencies came to a head in September 2025 when the city temporarily came under the protection of the Marble Falls Area Volunteer Fire Department after Horseshoe Bay ended its mutual aid agreement with Cottonwood Shores, which had routinely responded to as many as two calls per week, far beyond typical neighbor-to-neighbor support.
According to Cottonwood Shores Councilor Michael Ritchie, who spoke with DailyTrib during the initial September 2025 troubles, the city had ceased paying the Cottonwood Shores VFD for fire protection services in October 2024 due to inadequate staffing and certifications. By 2025, the department had dwindled to just one certified firefighter, Fire Chief Ray Schwartz, and the council did not believe the department could fulfill the city’s needs.