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Sunday, May 28, 2000

Many regional fires fought by volunteer fire departments

Bluntzer citizens battle fires, low budgets, distance to protect their community

By Darren Barbee
Caller-Times

The mutt came out from the smoke, barking at the strangers as the two-story frame house surrendered to flames.
   The dog made biting lunges at a group of firefighters until they chased it off with a fire hose.
   The dog was just doing its job, protecting the house. But so were the men and women of the Bluntzer Fire Department.
   Like many rural fire companies, the Bluntzer area volunteers aren't paid and don't have many luxuries, including fire hydrants.
   Across the state and the country, there are men and women like them, teen-agers and 60-year-olds, farmers and refinery workers, who walk away from their jobs or roll out of bed in the dead of night to keep their communities from being reduced to cinders and smoke.
   In Bluntzer, about 25 volunteers protect 225 square miles of area in a rural land where there are just three fire hydrants capable of pushing water through their hoses. They operate seven fire trucks and two ambulances on a budget of about $40,000 a year, Buddy Malek, president of Nueces County Rural Fire District No. 4 said.
   "The thing we have to deal with is distance," Malek said. "Distance is the big factor in everything we do."
   Two years ago, the district set up an EMS service. Prior to that, ambulance services from around the area would take up to 30 minutes to reach the back roads near Banquete and Bluntzer. Now, ambulances can be on the scene of an emergency in a fraction of that time.
   Community spirit and necessity bind most of the volunteers.
   Ten years ago, Lloyd Bluntzer came back from a movie with his wife to find a group of firefighters soaking down the remains of his house.
   "It was a total loss," Bluntzer said.
   But, instead of walking away despondent or in anger, Bluntzer recognized that the firefighters needed help.
   "That was when I saw the need," Bluntzer said. "That's why I . . . joined the fire department. It's pretty straightforward."
   Bluntzer was at the group's next meeting, determined to be a volunteer and five years later, he was elected fire chief.
   Volunteer forces
   In Texas and around the country, volunteers such as Bluntzer make up the bulk of the fire protection, according to the National Fire Protection Association. A 1998 study by the association found that of the 1 million fire fighters in the country, 74 percent were volunteers.
   Of the nation's 32,000 fire departments, about 80 percent of the firefighters protect populations of 5,000 or less, said Stephen Foley, senior fire service specialist for the National Fire Protection Association.
   In Nueces County, volunteer fire departments can be found in Agua Dulce, Port Aransas, Robstown, Driscoll, Bishop, Annaville, Banquete and Flour Bluff, according to the Texas Commission on Fire Protection.
   Foley said that paid career firefighter and unpaid volunteers receive nearly identical training.
   "We do not differentiate between whether a person is a career (firefighter) or a volunteer," Foley said. "When we go to fight a fire, the fire doesn't know the difference."
   Foley said most people join volunteer fire departments for three reasons.
   "In some cases there's a family tradition," He said. "Or they tend to be local people, and they see it as a chance to contribute something back to the community. And some of them use it as a stepping stone on to a career department."
   Valuable support
   J.J. Adame, chief of the Corpus Christi Fire Department, said rural fire departments are vital for fighting fires that are out of his department's range. The volunteer departments also assist Corpus Christi firefighters with grass and brush fires, Adame said.
   "They have a big role in our response to brush fires and wild land fires," Adame said. "They work right alongside, as part of the command structure. They integrate pretty well into our system."
   'Give tirelessly to one effort'
   But, while mutual aid agreements exist between rural fire departments and city departments, most fires are the local department's responsibility, said Bluntzer's assistant chief, Neal Lawley.
   Lawley said it takes a remarkable group of people to fight those fires.
   "This is a group of people that will give tirelessly to one effort, without complaining, without reservations about giving up that time to do it," he said. "I don't feel like there's any other fire department that could do any better."
   'Life is hard enough'
   Kirk and Grace Thomas, both EMT basics and volunteer firefighters, joined the Bluntzer fire department to protect themselves and their neighbors from fire. Grace Thomas has a small home sewing business. Kirk Thomas flies a helicopter.
   "Fires are much easier to come by in areas where burning (trash) is allowed," Grace Thomas said. "Fire response is very slow. And if there's no volunteer fire department, it's nonexistent.
   "I don't have a lot, but I don't want to lose what I have," she said. "And I don't want my friends and my neighbors to lose what they have. Life is hard enough."
  

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Staff writer Darren Barbee can be reached at 886-3764 or by e-mail at barbeed@caller.com

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