LAKE KIOWA, Texas — Indian Creek Volunteer Fire Department recently acquired a new tanker to
replace their old truck with the help of a $200,000 grant administered by Texas A&M Forest Service.
ICVFD began providing fire and first responder services to the eastern portion of Cooke County in
October of 2012, according to Assistant Fire Chief Bryan Buchanan. The new tanker will be replacing the
department’s original 1989 Oshkosh tanker that was given to them by their mutual aid department, Valley
View VFD.
“We started up with no equipment at all,” Buchanan said. “Our first tanker was a military surplus truck that
we did our best to convert to a fire truck so that it would temporarily suit our needs. We were able to
acquire and modify that initial tanker, but it was just getting us by until we could afford a professionally
built one.”
The new truck is National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) compliant and was designed to serve as
both a tanker and a backup structure fire engine.
“Without the grant, it would be very difficult to make this kind of purchase,” Buchanan said. “We are
completely volunteer. Almost all of our funding comes from donations which makes it difficult to afford
this type of equipment; especially when we only have a fire district population of about 4,000.”
TFS passes approximately $12.8 million along to volunteer fire departments across the state every year,
helping them purchase equipment to better protect lives and property.
“This is going to be a great water source not only for this fire district but for Cooke County and its
neighboring counties,” TFS Regional Fire Coordinator John Fuggit said.