Volunteer fire fighters threaten to walk out
Submitted by jcht2010 on
Members of Edna’s volunteer fire department are threatening to walk out if the City of Edna ends its funding for the paid fire department.
The city council listened to comments from the volunteers after meeting in executive session on July 8. Councilman Doug Kelly prefaced the comments by saying no decisions were made.
“It’s a very tough decision we have to make,” Kelly said. “I hope you guys understand that.”
Outside City Hall, volunteers had parked fire trucks outside and lined the sidewalk with their bunker gear as a show of solidarity.
D.J. Bell, volunteer and Emergency Services District 3 commissioner, told council the volunteers and paid fire department were a whole department.
“It was my decision to bring fire trucks out here,” Bell said. “I want the council to realize we are a whole department. If you lose one side you’re pretty much going to guarantee we’re going to go with it. We can’t stand alone.”
Bell told council the paid firefighters provide training for the volunteers at no cost.
“We don’t have outsiders to train us,” he said. “Where’s the training going to come from?”
He said the paid firefighters also keep all the equipment maintained so when there is a fire, everything is ready to go.
Frank Flores, president of the volunteer fire department, echoed Bell’s sentiment.
“We have 19 volunteer members and only nine are capable of running engines and going to structure fires,” Flores said. “Only one of them works in town, and that’s Bell. We depend on their [the paid firefighters] leadership and if that leadership leaves the rest of us might follow suit. A lot of us volunteers would leave. It’s very difficult to get volunteers. We do it because we want to do it.”
The city council will meet in open session with the ESD3 at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 16 at City Hall to discuss emergency services in the ESD3. A decision is expected to come at the end of the discussion.
Don Doering, Edna city manager, said the council will meet and determine the facts before making a decision.
“They’ll decide what we can afford,” he said. “They are trying to do what is in the best interest of the taxpayers and provide the most services at an affordable price.”
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