Spring Fire Department marks 70 years
“We had no hats, no boots, no coats, no nothing. It was just whatever you’d worn.”
Wilbur Waldo Weaver, former fire chief
As the Spring Fire Department kicks off its 70th anniversary year, firefighters and former staff look back on the legacy of one of the Houston area’s historic fire departments.
The organization has been around for decades fighting fires in Spring, but what fuels their fire is the community they serve.
For former Fire Chief Wilbur Waldo “Cotton” Weaver, one of the department’s first firefighters, this anniversary means a lot.
Weaver, 90, was among the volunteer firefighters who helped form the department in 1953. Back then, they raised money to help fund the department through bake sales, personal donations, steer auctions, and community events.
Initially, he said, the department didn’t have equipment or gear for the firefighters. What volunteers had that day is what they went to fight a fire with, he recalled. Weaver remembers volunteers even wearing sandals to fight a fire.
“The clothes you had on is the clothes that you went in with,” Weaver said. “We had no hats, no boots, no coats, no nothing. It was just whatever you’d worn. The water that you had was what you took with you in the tanker because (there) was no fire hydrant in Spring at that time.”
According to Weaver, the department only had a few volunteers at the time, so it allowed high school students with good grades to volunteer and carry pagers around. Student volunteers would leave to fight fires during class and head back to school after.
Weaver said in the early days of the department, it had a budget of $800 and all the firefighters were volunteers.
Today, the combination department has full-time, parttime and volunteer firefighters across nine stations and an annual budget of more than $20 million. With a staff of 185 and seven new volunteer recruits in training, it has built a reputation of community involvement.
Senior Capt. Steve Schoonover started as a photographer with the department in the ’90s and held many other positions while serving as a firefighter. He said the organization has grown rapidly mainly because of its social presence in the community. He believes marketing with commercials, open houses, activities, blood drives and more has helped the department expand.
“Whenever somebody is having a gathering in Spring, they could invite us, and we always like it when they do,” said Tracee Evans, the department’s communications director. “We bring the fire trucks out for the kids. We use that opportunity to talk about safety and prevention and how can we help you to be a stronger community because that’s our goal.”
Earlier this month, the department held the first of several open house events planned at each station to celebrate 70 years of service. A big community celebration is in the works for April.
The department is known for being family-oriented in the community, but also inside the station.
Steve Schoonover is the father of Deputy Chief Scott Schoonover, who started as a junior firefighter in 1996 while attending Klein Oak High School. The father-son duo isn’t the only family with multiple members that have served in the fire department.
Weaver said his two daughters, Kristen and Wilma Loscuito, would volunteer as kids calling firefighters to scenes. In honor of his service, Weaver will be the namesake of the future W.W. “Cotton” Weaver Training Center, planned at the corner of Louetta Road and Lexington Road in Spring.
“We love the fact that people want to serve,” Evans said. “I mean how rewarding is that for the community to know that this community matters so much that all these people want to serve, whether they’re getting a full-time salary out of it or not.”