TX Firefighters Launch New Volunteer Fire Department

A group of firefighters have begun their own volunteer fire department after a Texas city dissolved its department earlier this year.

Serving an area north of Howardwick, the new District 9 Volunteer Fire Department has 22 firefighters, and it started operations in August, KFDA-TV reports. This week, the department will receive gear from the Texas A&M Forest Service in Amarillo, and over the weekend, a fundraiser for the construction of a department building earned about $1,100.

"We have four (firefighters) that are SCBA certified, that they could go into a burning house,"  Assistant Fire Chief Coy Cooper told KFDA. "And we also have four certified divers. And we’re putting a dive team together to help out the other dive teams in the area, since we have three lakes here."

Although the department is just getting off the ground now, the seeds for its creation were planted more than a year ago. In March 2018, the nonprofit Howardwick Volunteer Fire Department was started, which drew the ire of city officials who said the new organization undermined the official, ordinance-backed City of Howardwick Volunteer Fire Department, The Clarendon Enterprise reports.

This led to an April 2019 lawsuit by the city against the HVFD, claiming vehicle titles were wrongly transferred to the new department. A settlement was reached in July, essentially dissolving the HVFD and opening the door for the District 9 Volunteer Fire Department, according to the Enterprise.

That settlement also re-established the City of Howardwick Volunteer Fire Department, and officials are working to get it running in order to cover emergencies in the city limits. Until then, the Clarendon Volunteer Fire Department will handle those calls, KDFA reports.

Despite arising from a somewhat contentious beginning, Assistant Fire Chief Cooper said there's no ill will toward city officials. Ultimately, everyone involved just wants to do what's best for residents.

"There are no personal vendettas here," Cooper told KFDA. "There’s no hate back and forth on our side. We’re here to protect the citizens of Donley County.".