Volunteer Fire Departments

[J+ Cattle]

I want to give a shout out and big thanks to our volunteer fire departments and the firefighters for what they do. We take them for granted until we need them.
My experience from Friday afternoon was a person pulling a trailer full of gravel (heavily overloaded) had a wheel bearing go out and the tire caught fire, this set the grass on the side of the road on fire and it spread into my pasture. The local VFD responded quickly with 5 trucks and was able to put out the fire before it got completely out of control. They put out the fire before it reached the houses and the damage was limited to just a few acres and one cut fence.

I urge you to make a contribution to your local volunteer fire department as they operate mostly on donations.

 

[Chevy]

Your very blessed glad they was able to get it put out quickly. You are correct, many things we all take for granted until we need the services.

 

[tom4018]

They did sell a membership , maybe not exactly what they called it, in ours for $25 a year. If you had a fire run it was covered without it they charged $500. I always did it but I guess they got strapped for funding so now it is added to our taxes. I have no problem with it and they seem to do as good as you could expect. I know their response time can't be as quick as a paid department with staff sitting their already.

 

[Dave]

We don't have a fire department here. As in save your house if on fire. It is 30 miles to the nearest one for that. They don't respond here. If they did they would get here in time to save the foundation. We have a rangeland protection association. That allows us to jump on range fires right away and not wait for the BLM. state, or forest circus to fight a fire. We would step up and try to put water on a house fire but we are not trained to do that. Also there is no water in the trucks during the winter as we don't have a heated fire hall.

 

[kenny thomas]

I want to give a shout out and big thanks to our volunteer fire departments and the firefighters for what they do. We take them for granted until we need them.
My experience from Friday afternoon was a person pulling a trailer full of gravel (heavily overloaded) had a wheel bearing go out and the tire caught fire, this set the grass on the side of the road on fire and it spread into my pasture. The local VFD responded quickly with 5 trucks and was able to put out the fire before it got completely out of control. They put out the fire before it reached the houses and the damage was limited to just a few acres and one cut fence.

I urge you to make a contribution to your local volunteer fire department as they operate mostly on donations.

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In 2006 they ask us to take a few dozers to put some line and mop up where a fire department had put out a fire during the night. We measured it at over 600 acres of very rough ground. This was somewhere south of Abiline TX. The Volunteer Departments in TX I have worked with are great. But so are the ones in Oklahoma.

 

[J+ Cattle]

This was somewhere south of Abiline TX. The Volunteer Departments in TX I have worked with are great. But so are the ones in Oklahoma.

Kenny you were working a long way from home if you were in Abilene, TX. There's a lot of cedar in that part of the country and when they get really hot they burst into flames like gasoline.

 

[kenny thomas]

Kenny you were working a long way from home if you were in Abilene, TX. There's a lot of cedar in that part of the country and when they get really hot they burst into flames like gasoline.

Oh I have worked most of TX from Amarillo to Beeville and Beaumont to Midland. Palo Duro Canyon is as bad as it gets in my opinion.
Yes the dry cedar puts on a show.

 

[kenny thomas]

A tale on myself.
In the fall of 2006 I was on a smaller fire west of Robert Lee TX. Had been told snakes were bad. I was scouting and flagging where I wanted the bulldozer to build a fireline. When it got dark I got a surprise. The snakes usually came out at night so I was scared already. There were small spiders with great big eyes that reflected the flashlight so I was very jumpy thinking each one was a snake. I bumped into a cactus about the same time and was sure I had been bit. When I got into an area cleared by the dozer.i had to take my pants off and use tweezers to remove the cactus thorns.

 

[kenny thomas]

Some say why didn't you let the dozer go in front. The same dozer had been on a fire the week before and went off into an big ditch falling about 25ft onto the blade and then onto its side. After that they got picky that someone was leading the dozer.

 

[farmerjan]

I support the local fire dept here every year. My dad was in the fire dept for years and rose to assistant chief. It seemed like the fire whistle and radio went off every Sunday just as we were sitting down to dinner in the middle of the day. I went with him when we went to the different ponds so that he could clean out the pipes to the non-pressurized hydrants so the trucks could get water from a closeby pond when there was a fire. In Ct there are alot of ponds and lakes so it was to the fire dept advantage to keep the pipes clear of pond weeds and such.
There's alot of training that they go through too just to be a member... and part of the team. So many chemicals and such nowadays too with vehicle fires and such....

 

[sstterry]

Some say why didn't you let the dozer go in front. The same dozer had been on a fire the week before and went off into an big ditch falling about 25ft onto the blade and then onto its side. After that they got picky that someone was leading the dozer.

So you volunteered??

 

[farmerjan]

So you volunteered??

Somebody probably "volunteered him"....

 

[kenny thomas]

So you volunteered??

Was my job but as Jan said I was volunteered

 

[sagecreek]

We just had a fire this week as well, thanks to the Lord and the local volunteer firefighters and neighbors helping out, (BLM and state helped some) it burned 12,000 acres in three days on our mountain

 

[wbvs58]

Our volunteer firie's do a good job but sometime I think they are a bit overcautious when they first respond. Often if they had of got out of the truck and got on with getting around the fire they would have contained it but they seem to want to set up their incident control and plan their back burns rather than just getting on with putting it out. It is part of their training, I know as I used to be a member.

Ken

 

[Allenw]

In 2006 they ask us to take a few dozers to put some line and mop up where a fire department had put out a fire during the night. We measured it at over 600 acres of very rough ground. This was somewhere south of Abiline TX. The Volunteer Departments in TX I have worked with are great. But so are the ones in Oklahoma.

We were thankful for you and all the volunteers thst where here from all over during the Rhea fire.

 

[Dave]

Our volunteer firie's do a good job but sometime I think they are a bit overcautious when they first respond. Often if they had of got out of the truck and got on with getting around the fire they would have contained it but they seem to want to set up their incident control and plan their back burns rather than just getting on with putting it out. It is part of their training, I know as I used to be a member.

Ken

That is why Rangeland Protection Asso have popped up all over the west. While the BLM, state, and forest circus are having meetings we jump on the fire. I remember one a few years back. The ranchers just about had it controlled. BLM showed up. But it was a crew with no boss and they were allowed to do anything without instruction from a boss. So instead of helping the ranchers they went to setting up their camp. The fire got away from the ranchers. In stead of burning a couple hundred acres, it burned 600,000+ acres.

 

[kenny thomas]

That is why Rangeland Protection Asso have popped up all over the west. While the BLM, state, and forest circus are having meetings we jump on the fire. I remember one a few years back. The ranchers just about had it controlled. BLM showed up. But it was a crew with no boss and they were allowed to do anything without instruction from a boss. So instead of helping the ranchers they went to setting up their camp. The fire got away from the ranchers. In stead of burning a couple hundred acres, it burned 600,000+ acres.

I am proud of what you guys are doing there Dave. Here I try to have someone on a fire within minutes but rarely is it more than a half hour. Most fires are kept very small by doing that. I'm seeing more and more of the way you describe.

 

[Allenw]

They have mutual aid units from each county around here. They pull a unit from each department in the county to go help another department in need. It allows aid to other departments and still keep the local area covered.

 

[greybeard]

Our vol FD does a pretty good job in all manner of things (they are the EMT first responder too) but they aren't allowed or won't/can't go after even a small fire if it goes into the Nat Forest. BUT, the Bear Creek Vol FD waded/swam thru about 1/4 mile of up to 8' of water to help wife and I evacuate during hurricane Harvey.
As long as I live I won't ever forget fireman Bryant come wading up my road to help us get out and my first thoughts and words were "How the hell did you get here?"
He "I waded".
I know there is a dip in my private road that meant the water was nearly 10 ft deep so I know he dang well didn't wade that. He had his radio, wallet, truck keys and cell phone tied around his neck in a ziplock bag.
Heroes come in all different forms.