EDGECLIFF VILLAGE, Texas –– With a $189,000 grant through Texas A&M Forest Service’s Rural VFD Assistance
Program, Edgecliff Village Fire Department now has a new large brush truck.
“Our old truck was quickly aging and having a lot of mechanical problems,” Fire Chief Jeffery Ballew said. “We
needed a new truck that would meet our needs as well as the community’s.”
The new truck provides improved pump capacity, structural firefighting abilities, foam capabilities and ample
cab space for firefighters.
“The new truck gives us wildland and urban interface capabilities that are valuable when serving an immediate
911 area that is 1.5 square miles with a population of 3,000 citizens,” Ballew said.
The truck has many capabilities including air packs and the capacity to hold 800 gallons of water -allowing it to
fight fires of any size. According to Ballew, it can do just about anything they could need it to.
In Texas, more than 85 percent of fire departments are entirely or primarily run through the goodwill of volunteers. TFS grants $12.8 million to volunteer fire departments spanning the state each year, providing them with the opportunity to acquire new and up-to-date equipment to enhance their capability to protect lives and property.
“This program is wonderful and has helped us tremendously,” Ballew said. “While this is our first truck grant, TFS has
helped us with equipment, structure gear, training materials for our library and training for our firefighters. I always tell
the other departments in our area how easy TFS grants are to apply for and how we wouldn’t be able to function at the
level we are without their help.”
To learn more about this program, visit http://texasfd.com.