Area firefighters and officials gathered Friday morning for a dedication ceremony opening the Johnson County Emergency Services District No. 1’s new fire department. A department created to compliment, not usurp or replace the county’s volunteer fire departments.
The department, a first for JCESD, consists of two engines, four full-time and 10 part-time workers.
One of the engines will house at JCESD headquarters in Cleburne, the other at the Alvarado Volunteer Fire Department.
“This has been a challenge to begin daytime staffing,” JCESD Director Mike Johnston said. “In my 34 years of fire experience, I’ve been used to running fire departments, but I’ve never helped start one.”
County Judge Roger Harmon commended Johnston, the JCESD staff and area firefighters for working together to make the new department a reality.
“I’ve always said that in life you have to have a plan, and a way to execute it,” Harmon said. “It’s because of people pulling and working together that the ESD has come such a long way.”
JCESD Board President Jack Watson thanked county residents who last year voted to increase the ESD’s county property tax rate from 3 cents per $100 of valuation to 6 cents per $100.
An increase that has improved funding, and safety efforts, of the ESD, Watson said.
“Fourteen months ago, a dispatch center at the ESD helped reduce response times in the county,” Watson said. “This new department will further help that goal.”
County resident Al Stone, whose lost his home to a fire last year, christened one of the engines to officially bring it online.
“It’s a bottle of lemonade,” Watson joked. “Because we’re an alcohol-free facility.”
A series of 16 tones, representing each of the ESD-affiliated departments, sounded followed by an announcement.
“Attention Johnson County Fire Departments,” JCESD Dispatch Supervisor Pat Hunter said. “We would like to announce the debut of Johnson County ESD Engine 90 and Engine 290. These units will be placed in service next week.
“This concludes our announcement. Be safe out there, dispatch out.”
With that, firefighters joined to push Engine 90 into the bay, a fire department tradition dating back to the days of horse-drawn wagons.
The department should benefit with quicker response times and make additional firefighters and equipment available as needed throughout the county, Johnston said.
Johnston and Watson said the most important aspect will be the presence of firefighters during the day, a time when the majority of volunteer firefighters are working their regular jobs.
The ESD firefighters will work a 40-hour week Monday through Friday, Johnston said.
“To augment daytime staffing,” Johnston said. “The main emphasis is to assist, not replace, the volunteers. This county is a volunteer county and it’s going to remain so for a long time.”
Many of the part-time ESD firefighters work for other area paid departments, Johnston said.
“The big thing is the [ESD firefighters] ability to interact with the volunteer departments for a seamless transition,” Johnston said. “They’ve already been told there will be zero tolerance for anything else. Johnson County is heavily dependent on volunteers, and we don’t want to change that.”
Lt. Brad Hargrove and Lt. Shane Coulston will lead the new department. Hargrove served as the training chief for the Joshua Volunteer Fire Department for 10 years. Coulston previously served with the Harker Heights Fire Department.
“We’re really stoked,” Hargrove said. “It’s exciting to be on the ground floor of starting a new department.”
Watson also took a moment during the grand opening to point out the shortage of volunteer firefighters faced by all the county departments, and urged any interested residents to contact the JCESD for information.
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Related Photos
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Johnson County Emergency Services District No. 1 Fire Department Lts. Shane Coulston, left, and Brad Hargrove inspect the equipment outfitting the department’s newly arrived truck. Firefighters and officials gathered at JCESD headquarters Friday to officially open the department. Matt Smith/Times-Review
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To the rescue
ESD fire department opens for business
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May/June 2012 Community Life magazine
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