Redwater fire department holds fundraisers
Most people have no idea how much it costs to operate local volunteer fire departments. Of course, unless they are in the loop, they wouldn’t know.
Some responses at last weekend’s Redwater Volunteer Fire Department fundraiser included: “It’s free, it’s volunteers.” “I don’t know, we call ‘em and they come.”
“Doesn’t the city pay them something?”
“I think they get state money or something.”
The truth is, it is an expensive undertaking to manage a fire department and the firefighters don’t get as much as one might think.
“We’re strictly a volunteer organization,” Chief Alton Wheat of the Redwater VFD, said. “Our only funding is a small percentage of property taxes from the people here in our emergency service district.
“It shows Redwater Emergency Service District on their taxes and we get just a small portion of that to maintain both departments. We don’t get funding, per se, from the city of Redwater.”
The rest of their funding comes from donations, contributions and fundraisers.
That is why it is so important to attend their fundraisers, participate in their auctions and buy those hamburgers at special events across the county.
They don’t just ask for our money. They actually offer something in return for donations, such as food, pet clinics or auctions.
The Redwater department offered its community pet vaccination clinic and old-fashioned ice cream social as fundraisers last Saturday.
The pet clinic was so successful that by 10:30 a.m. they had to make a trip back to the veterinarian’s office to get more supplies. Pet owners had arrived by 7:30 a.m. waiting for the clinic to open at 8.
“We have somebody headed back to the clinic now to get more vaccines, to get the rest of what we even have there,” Veterinary Assistant Christy Harrison said during the clinic. “We’ve done 44 already this morning.”
“It’s been going amazing this morning,” Dustyn Haire, also a veterinary assistant, agreed.
Both work with Dr. Beth Wheat, who owns Ark La Tex Spay and Neuter Clinic on New Boston Road in Texarkana. Beth Wheat, Chief Wheat’s wife, was on hand to help with the vaccinations as well.
Her donations of the shots, vaccines and time greatly help the fire department in their fundraising efforts.
The afternoon was spent dishing out cups of homemade ice cream to the community. Three churns were going and multicolored and chocolate sprinkles along with chocolate syrup and fresh strawberries were available.
Several of the volunteer firefighters and their families were on hand to help. Children were entertained with the bounce house and had their pictures taken while climbing on the fire engine.
Events like this bring the community together and allow the fire department to share its knowledge and equipment with those interested in learning more about their volunteers.
The Redwater department has more than the one location to service the people in its district.
“We have two locations, the Shady Pines location and we have one just down County Road 991 behind the old DeLaughters,” Chief Wheat said. “It’s a little smaller than this one (Shady Pines). It houses a large fire engine and we have a 5,000-gallon water truck there.”
As Chief Wheat pointed out, the Redwater locations service a large portion of rural areas where there aren’t fire hydrants on every corner, so they depend on their large water truck for their water supply when needed.
They also have two brush trucks that have four-wheel drive and are used to fight grass and brush fires.
“We can take those out in the pastures where you can’t take these larger engines because they get stuck and sink so easily,” he said. “We’ve got a rescue truck that’s got the Jaws of Life on it that we run for all the car accidents in this district.”
It costs a lot of money for upkeep on these vehicles besides what it costs to purchase them.
“All the money we raise from our fundraisers goes to buy new equipment that we don’t have the money for,” Chief Wheat said. “The monies we get from the taxes maintain the station and cover our insurance. We have to have insurance on all the firefighters. So there’s no extra money left to buy new radios that we use to communicate with each other on or the gear we wear.
“It costs about $1,500 to $1,800 per person to put them in the gear needed to go into a house. That’s the low end too, to completely outfit a firefighter.
“That doesn’t include the oxygen bottles and packs we wear. Our packs, per person, that we have to wear to go into a burning house is $7,500. That’s everything. That’s to go into a house to get somebody out or stop the fire.
“And each truck has a certain number of those SCBAs– Self-Contained Breathing Apparatuses.
“By the time you put one fireman standing here ready to go into a house, that’s $10,000 if it’s all new equipment. That’s just to be able to go fight a house fire.”
There are times when they are able to obtain reconditioned equipment from some of the larger departments like Dallas or Houston, and they do, every chance they get.
“People don’t realize the expense associated with the department. They don’t know it costs $2,000 for a helmet.”
This volunteer fire department services an 88-square mile area. From County Road 2148 on the east to U.S. Highway 82 on the north to Rock Creek Road on the west and all the way over to the back side of Wright Patman Lake.
This is why they have two locations to house their engines and equipment and why they need to keep their vehicles in good working order.
There are at least 25 firefighters in the Redwater department. And they are all volunteers.
“It’s a full-time job,” Chief Wheat said. “We train every Monday. The firefighters come up and the captains do training on different things each week.”
They also have EMRs, EMTs, and paramedics who assist the firefighters. EMRs are emergency medical responders and are technically volunteer EMTs, or emergency medical technicians.
The department has a large base of Support Members. When the firefighters are on a large-scale event like a brush fire or even a house fire, the Support Members are on hand with what they call ‘rehab,’ which includes crackers, water, Gatorade, whatever the firefighters needs to help them keep going. This special group also helps with the fundraisers. A lot of them are family members and friends of the department.
Chief Wheat has encouraged a working relationship with each of the bordering fire departments and they will all come to one another’s aid should they need extra personnel or equipment.
“We’re very lucky to have the relationships that we have with the surrounding departments,” he said.
Those departments include Liberty-Eylau, Nash, Wake Village, Hooks, Red Lick and Maud.
Not only do the volunteers dash out to help the community in times of need, they also put in a lot of hours helping to support the department. They sell hamburgers at the school for Open House and Meet the Teacher events. They are at the local football games. If there is a large event happening locally, you will find the volunteer firefighters working to raise money for the department.
“I’ve got a super group of guys and gals here. The time we spend away from our families putting in up here on these calls, that says a lot about them,” the chief said. “I’m really, really proud of the group we’ve got.”
These volunteers are neighbors, friends and family members.
They are trained, they are skilled and they rehearse their procedures regularly to keep everything fresh. They are qualified to answer calls for any number of types of emergencies that may arise.
They are our local fire departments and we should support them as often as we can and pray that we never have to meet them in their line of work. But if we do, we will be guaranteed quality care to the best of their practiced and capable abilities.