Volunteer fire department

The worn truck tires stacked behind the West Odessa Volunteer Fire Department’s Station 1 come and go rather quickly. Chief Jimmy Ellis said local oil and trucking companies donate their used tires, and about half of them are usable, but the mesquite bushes rip them up rather easily when the trucks handle brush fires.
   He said some of the fire helmets and nozzles at the station were bought used off of eBay. All but two firetrucks, or “pumpers” at Station 1 were used or donated trucks that were rebuilt by his own crew for the job.
   It’s a typical way to stretch the department’s dollar, but right now, Ellis says he’s just about out of dollars to stretch.
   “As of right now I have no money in the bank,” he said.
   The county planned to give the West Odessa Volunteer Fire Department $41,700 during the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. Ector County Precinct 1 Commissioner Freddie Gardner said the county slashed $3,000 from its proposed budget for the department after giving it an extra $3,000 this year to cover fuel expenses back when gasoline was hovering around $4 per gallon.
   The other three volunteer fire departments — South Ector County, Gardendale and Goldsmith — didn’t get this extra help and their budgets were kept the same for the upcoming fiscal year.
   Gardner said all four departments rely on fundraisers and donations as well as the county’s contributions, especially from local oil companies.
   “The oil companies, they help them out with tires and donations. I know right now it’s kind of tough because the price of oil’s down,” Gardner said. “It’s tight all over right now. If we get the oil back up to the $70s, things will be a lot better.”
   Fundraising’s an issue. Ellis said those slowed down dramatically, and when asked, he couldn’t think of any fundraisers coming up in the near future.
   Money isn’t as much of an issue for the South Ector County, Gardendale and Goldsmith volunteer fire departments. Still, South Ector Capt. Brian Barrow said he can use all the equipment he could get.
   “We need new trucks badly. We’re truck-poor right now,” Barrow said. “A couple (are) in fairly decent condition, but we’re really rough.”
   Barrow said South Ector County actually tried to get a pumper, a high-pressure firetruck, from West Odessa. Right now, they’re working with lower-pressure trucks which he said have sufficed, but a new truck would give his firefighters more options on the field.
   “The main thing is (they) give us a better pressure. The pumps we have aren’t high pressure pumps,” Barrow said. “You got a little bit more options to go with a pumper … that can be used for multiple things.”
   Gardendale chief Brandon Hayes said he was looking for new breathing equipment to deal with building fires, but otherwise, “we should be doing alright as far as we know.”
   Goldsmith chief Bennie Cope had similar gripes. He said he’d have to get a grant to order a new pumper, which typically goes for $100,000.
   “We lucked out and had a break for a few years, the grass wasn’t growing that much …,” he said.
   Cope said the Goldsmith crew covers a lot of oilfield territory and if it’s not a grass fire, it’s likely going to be a tank battery fire. Like Ellis, fundraising has fallen flat and the department recently discontinued their annual barbecue, yet Cope said they can get by on a $12,000 annual budget.
   “We survive on what we get, and I don’t aggravate the county for money,” he said.

No money to burn
   Money allocated from Ector County in its proposed 2009-2010 budget for the volunteer fire departments:
   >> West Odessa: $41,700.
   >> South Ector County: $16,000.
   >> Gardendale: $15,000.
   >> Goldsmith: $12,000.