Firefighters Needed Here

Fayette County needs more volunteer firefighters.

Fire chiefs and their assistants from the 10 volunteer fire departments in Fayette County came to the Commissioners Court meeting in La Grange last Wednesday, Nov. 10. They were there to give annual reports about funding they receive from county tax dollars.

The County annually allocates two cents of its property taxes to the fire departments, which is distributed according to a formula based in part on the number of calls to which each department responds.

This year, County Judge Joe Weber asked the chiefs to present their reports in person to get feedback from them about a new reporting form and also to give them a venue to express concerns.

Nearly all of the departments said they need to grow their ranks.

“One thing we have a shortage of in Fayette County is volunteer firefighters, especially young volunteer firefighters,” said Pct. 4 Commissioner Drew Brossmann, who also serves as an assistant fire chief for the Schulenburg Volunteer Fire Department.

Brossmann advocated for a county-wide campaign to recruit new firefighters. Stephen Kelly, president of the Fayette County Firefighters Association and assistant chief for Muldoon VFD, said the Firefighters Association recently spoke with Fayette County Emergency Management Chief Craig Moreau about such an effort.

Moreau said the need for new firefighters was noted in a recent needs assessment completed by his office.

County Judge Joe Weber suggested forming an apprenticeship program for high school juniors and seniors. La Grange Fire Chief Frank Menefee said his department offers a junior firefighter program to high school students.

“We’ve had it in place for about 10 years,” Menefee said. “It’s been beneficial over the years.”

Fire Chief Frankie Srubar of the Round Top-Warrenton VFD spoke about the challenges of recruiting in rural communities.

“In small towns like Round Top, you don’t have the kind of businesses where you’ve got a lot of young people working there, everybody is out of town,” he said. “We have enough to go out and make an initial attack and guys filter in. I have to drive from (work in) La Grange. Some have to drive from other towns. They have to leave their jobs.”

Srubar said many employers support the fire departments by allowing volunteer firefighters to leave work when a call comes in without losing pay. Some volunteer firefighters, he said, lose pay when they leave work for a call. Some employers don’t allow firefighter to leave work at all.

“About have of our firefights are either not able to leave their jobs, lose pay, or they work for themselves so that’s taking money from them,” Kelly said. “The dedication is amazing.”

“I think it’s a small price to pay for a business, to let a fireman go for two or three hours to put out a fire,” Weber said. “We should work with the businesses. I know a lot of them are good, but we want them all to support our firefighters.”

Another issue raised at the meeting concerned territory boundaries. Rodney Reed, representing the Ledbetter VFD, said some county roads serve as territory lines, which causes confusion among neighbors who live along those roads.

“On one side of the road you’ve got the Round Top fire department, and on the other side of the road, you’ve got the Ledbetter fire department,” Reed said. “It’s confusing to some of the new neighbors coming in - who gets the call.”

All of the departments expressed thanks to the County for the annual funding.

“It’s been the only thing that kept us going this last year or two with COVID,” said Stephen Kelly. “A lot of our community members are older and didn’t feel comfortable helping us out, and without their help we can’t have fundraisers. The only thing that kept our department going was the money we received from the County. I think that’s a very important thing especially to the rural departments. I want to thank all of y’all and the citizens of Fayette County for helping us out in that way.”