Confusion flourished Wednesday as coun­ty officials and emergency personnel began to sort out details of the closure of Hickory Hill Road, a major thoroughfare to the east.

The county notified the Argyle Volunteer Fire District on Wednesday about the potential roadblock, and the district began planning ways to bypass the road, said Mack Hohenberger, the district’s fire chief.

Those plans include relocating two firefighters and adding a temporary fire station in Copper Canyon or Bartonville.

The fire chief is still unsure where the temporary fire station will be or when it will be ready.

He plans to use it for at least a year, until a permanent station can be built in Copper Canyon.

Hohenberger also drew up some alternate routes around the road closure, he said, but those alternate routes would add nearly 10 minutes to response times.

“It is definitely going to be a problem for us,” he said. “It came out of left field. It was a shock that it was shut down. We knew it was going to get shut down some day, but we didn’t know what day.”

With nearly 500 medical and fire calls per year east of FM1830, Hohenberger said it was imperative for the district to find a way around the road closure without impacting response times.

By using the alternative routes, response times would have in­creased from six to eight minutes to eight to 14 minutes, but the temporary station would keep them at the current level.

“We already had this issue,” Hohenberger said. “We have an increase in calls on the east side and we want to protect our citizens equally.”

The temporary station seemed to be the best option, he said.

Because the bridge on Hickory Hill Road won’t be demolished until March 7, emergency vehicles can still use it until then, Precinct 4 County Commissioner Andy Eads said.

“The road is still open,” he said. “The barricades are put up to let residents know about the im­pending closure, but it is still open for emergency personnel.”

The road was closed to through traffic Tuesday so workers could begin a road-widening project to help accommodate two new Den­ton schools.

The work is expected to take six months and will be completed in early August, Eads said.

DAN X. McGRAW can be reached at 940-566-6875. His e-mail address is dmcgraw@dentonrc.com .