MEYERSVILLE VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT
7111 Highway 105, Brenham, Texas 77833
2024 YEAR END REPORT
2024 was an exciting year for Meyersville FD. The department responded to more than 150 calls for service, had multiple members complete various training classes, and was awarded multiple grants. This group of dedicated firefighters and awesome family members make me proud to be apart of it. Professionalism, dedication, and their sense of service is beyond compare next to any volunteer organization in Washington County TX. Meyersville FD is made up of 18 members, including the addition of a PIO officer Sarah Venables and new FF Colton Colbert. Meyersville FD hosted more than 30 annual training hours including in person and online. A few member highlights are Dane Winkelman completed a SFFMA fire academy consisting of more than 450 hours this year and will be fully certified to SFFMA FFI, FFII, and HazMat Awareness & Operations. He and his wife Bridget also welcomed a baby girl, congratulations! Sarah Venables completed a weeklong PIO class in Bryan TX to be our certified Public Information Officer. Sarah manages MFD’s social media accounts as well. Thank you for the awesome job you do!
Meyersville FD tracks data on the availability of personnel for daytime responses as well as nighttime responses. These are broken down into 2 shifts from 0800 – 1900 (day shift) and 1901 – 0759 (night shift).
On average we have 5 personnel available during the day, these members can staff an Engine, Tender and Command vehicle effectively, although 8 personnel are preferred. During the night shift there is an average of 7 personnel available.
The staffing levels we are aiming for include:
Engine: 4 personnel
Tender: 2 personnel
Command car: 2 personnel
Booster: 2 personnel
Meyersville FD’s fleet consists of 1 Engine, 1 Tender, 3 Brush trucks, 1 Command vehicle and 1 UTV.
Meyersville FD responded to more than 150 calls for service in 2024 and the breakdown is as follows.
Structure fires – 13
Travel trailer fire- 1
Vehicle fires – 4
Heavy Equipment fires– 3
Grass/ Brush fires– 21
Trash fires– 6
Crashes – 24
Crash w/ rescue / other rescue – 4
Hazmat / Hazard calls – 7
Back fill/ cover – 7
Good intent – 53
Fire Alarms – 3
Community relations – 5
There were two fire fatalities in our response area early in the year because of a space heater. In 2023, MFD responded to 102 calls for service and as you can see, we’ve had an increase in call volume by over 48%. The average turn out times are 9 minutes with a total response time being 18 minutes on average. For a rural Volunteer Fire Department this is a really good average, we have a goal of a 5 minute turn out time and a total response time of 12 minutes. This is an extremely difficult goal to achieve due to no staffing at the station. MFD will continue to strive to meet this goal.
In September of 2024 MFD was awarded $117,000 through an AFG grant for new air packs. Along with that, MFD was also awarded a grant from LCRA and Bluebonnet Electric for a new generator in the amount of $18,123.00.
MFD had a banner year in receiving funding for air packs and a standby generator. Without the support of the community and the members of MFD it would not be possible to serve our community. We appreciate the funding we receive from Washington County Commissioners’ court. Unfortunately, the fire department doesn’t receive enough funding to replace the necessary equipment (i.e. fire trucks, PPE, and rescue equipment) or a plan for the future. We are continually looking for a better, more secure funding mechanism. Sadly, there are not many options. We are pursuing an Emergency Service District with Chappell Hill FD, which would assess an ad valorum tax of up to .10 cents per $100 dollar property value evaluation. This would provide these two departments with a secure and long-term funding mechanism, which would allow us to plan for future growth and eventually daytime paid staff to supplement the volunteer staff. This also would fund the necessary equipment the department needs to continue to serve the community.
In closing, MFD will continue to serve the community to the best of our ability for as long as we can.
Thank you everyone for all your support.