Texas volunteer fire departments grateful for grants

By Jennifer Rios
The San Angelo Standard-Times

WATER VALLEY, Texas — J.C. Schovajsa, fire chief with the Water Valley Volunteer Fire Department, remembered filling out a two-page survey weeks ago about the losses the department suffered from recent wildfires.

The department's needs after the fire are still the same as its needs today — truck tires, protective gear for his firefighters and a new water pump.

On May 31, Schovajsa learned that a $10,000 grant will help make those purchases possible.

"I had applied for it, but I had no idea we'd got it," Schovajsa said. "That's super fantastic. It'll help us recover from the Wildcat and the Cotton and the Encino fires for sure. We spent a lot of money doing all that."

Water Valley and 34 other volunteer fire departments in the Concho Valley were awarded grants totaling $184,000 from the San Angelo Health Foundation and the San Angelo Area Foundation.

In April, the foundation opened a "Fire Fund" for organizations and individuals to donate money for department resources. Every dollar raised for departments went directly to volunteers. In five weeks the fund had generated $92,000, area foundation President Matt Lewis said.

The Health Foundation matched that amount and brought the total donation to $184,000. Grants were from $1,000 to $10,000 and were awarded, based on department need. Foundation President Tom Early said checks were going in the mail May 31 Early said the departments were surveyed over the past several weeks to determine what they needed. Needs included tires, truck repairs and fuel.

Thirty-five departments will receive aid from the foundations.

Lewis said donations continue to come into the fund and the foundations expect to cut at least one more batch of checks to volunteers.

From April 8 to April 20, the Water Valley responded to different fires with four trucks — all of which regularly needed new tires after driving over stumps and burning brush.

Mark Bridgeman, fire chief of Winters Volunteer Fire Department, said he knew the department was in line to receive help, but didn't expect the $5,000 awarded them.

While they hold community fundraisers, they rarely get donations this substantial. With it the department can replenish its account after buying a $4,000 pump that was lost fighting the Wildcat Fire near Edith. Schovajsa, whose department also lost a pump, said he had planned to patch up the old one, but no longer has to. Community support has been strong since the beginning, he said.

A few anonymous donators footed the department's tire bill, and another wrote a check for $1,700 to cover their fuel bill.

"We've got some really good supporters around here," Schovajsa said.

"If it wasn't for them we couldn't operate."

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