In Fast-Growing Parts of Texas, Volunteers Run Short

May 14--Taylor County is in a transition period, rural firefighters say, in which the number of personnel and resources available is threatened to be outstripped by need.

People are the biggest concern, said Gary Young, chairman of the Taylor County Rural Fire Committee. Departments learned long ago to get by as best they can on the dollars they're able to collect, but you can't fight fires without people, Young said.

"It's just hard to find enough manpower to cover things on a volunteer basis when someone has to be at work," he said. " ... It seems like the population is growing 10-to-1 faster than what the volunteer ratio is. Our runs are at all-time highs, and our volunteers that are available are probably lower than they've ever been in numbers."

Departments in Potosi, Buffalo Gap and Tye "make more runs anyone else in the county," Young said, at a level that is "almost unsustainable."

"We're in a transitional phase in Taylor County," he said. "The population has moved out, it's in place, it's big. We're kind of getting by, but we know sooner or later that there will have to be some paid personnel on staff."

Countywide, two-thirds of departments' typical runs are for car wrecks or medical emergencies, while about a third are fires, Young said.

"It's become a full-time job," he said. "No one can afford to take off as much time as the fire department requires anymore to sustain the level of service those people have come to expect."

For now, though, Taylor County is in an "awkward phase," he said, in which its needs are genuinely great -- perhaps not yet enough for actual paid fire districts, but getting closer and closer.

While Potosi's Volunteer Fire Department is on an "up-cycle" in terms of personnel right now, that often varies greatly over time, said Fire Chief Aaron Maxwell.

Many personnel are drawn from Dyess Air Force Base, for example, who can be transferred.

"During the daytime, we're short a lot," he said. "A lot of our members live in the city of Abilene, and it takes them a long time to get out here. We struggle to recruit members that actually are from close in our area."

Young said that many of the core volunteers in rural departments used come from "pioneer families," people with long-term ties to the area who would naturally band together to help preserve land, livestock and livelihood.

Conversely, many people moving to rural areas now come from an urban background, he said, one in which they became used to fire and other emergency services being "provided" through local tax dollars.

If just a few people would step in and help a few hours a month, even in ways that wouldn't require them to be on a truck, such as record-keeping, it could make a tremendous difference for rural departments, Young said.

"There are any number of different ways they could do that," he said, from data entry to helping with fundraisers.

But if the volunteer effort isn't sustained, it potentially "can be brutal" for the county, he said.

Other Concerns

Basic maintenance issues always crop up, said Derrick Sowell with the Buffalo Gap Volunteer Fire Department.

A blown motor Sunday in one of his trucks is an example of the most recent such setback in his department -- a day when his department helped out with a brush fire in Mulberry Canyon and had to fight a structure fire in Buffalo Gap itself.

When it comes to finances, most departments end up having to raise the cash themselves, Sowell said.

"The Taylor County Rural Fire Committee receives money from the county every year, and that's to help us purchase certain equipment," he said, as well as items such as insurance for vehicles.

Local churches, among others, help with fundraising, he said, and Sowell said that he is lucky to live in a community eager to help rural firefighters.

Another growing problem for rural fire departments is the need for greater space and new fire stations, Young said.

"There are numerous departments in Taylor County that have completely outgrown their old facilities," he said. "We've got trucks literally parked within an inch or two of the door and the wall."

The increase in calls has prompted departments to go to larger trucks with increased capacity and capabilities, Young said.

"As a result, we're busting at the seams," he said, and several rural fire departments in Taylor County have "direct and immediate plans" for new stations.

"Nearly everyone is surviving on our day-to-day operational budgets, but we're trying to piece in how we can afford to lay out anywhere between $200,000 and $300,000 for these new fire stations to accommodate these new trucks."

That's the situation with the Potosi Volunteer Fire Department, said Maxwell.

"We have two trucks right now that have to sit outside under carports because we've outgrown our current facility," he said. "Building on is not an option because our current space is shared with one of the Taylor County (precinct maintenance) barns, and there's not any room to add on."

While the department does receive some funding from Taylor County, which it can use to buy insurance or replace damaged equipment, like most rural departments, the Potosi VFD is funded mostly through donations, he said.

So the challenge, Maxwell said, is raising money for the new building on top of the money the department needs to raise for its day-to-day operations.

Maxwell said that Potosi's goal is to build a new fire headquarters in two phases of $250,000 each.

"We have $70,000 in the bank right now," he said. "But it's sort of a slow process."

The department has started a series of neighborhood block parties, he said, to spread the word about how it helps, while other fundraising plans are "in the works."

In the meantime, it's a struggle to keep equipment clean and in good repair, Maxwell said.

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