VICTORIA, Texas — Victoria County Volunteer Fire Department recently purchased a new tanker with aid from a cost-share grant in the amount of $218,000 from the Texas A&M Forest Service to help better serve not only thevpeople of its fire district, but the entire county.
The VFD had previously been operating with used vehicles, some upwards of 20 years old.
“We want to help everyone in the county out as much as we can,” VCVFD Fire Chief Ronald Pray said. “One of our trucks recently failed completely on us. This grant came at the perfect time for us.”
The new truck also comes equipped with a compressed air foam (CAF) system that will not only help volunteers more efficiently fight structural fires, but will also help when responding to fuel fires at the local airport, according to Pray.
“The TFS grant program is essential to the success of many VFDs in the state of Texas,” Pray said. “Without this program many departments wouldn’t have safe, functioning equipment. Many of the trucks we were using weren’t really safe for the volunteers. With this program we are getting an NFPA compliant chassis that is safe and properly weighted to use on the roadways.”
The new truck will also help the VFD operate more efficiently and respond to more calls than before.
“Many of our old tankers were only a single cab, we purchased this one with a crew cab so we could send more men to the scene,” Pray said. “Where before we could only sent two, now we can send up to five volunteers. It’s going to increase our abilities while on scene because in the past we were having to bring two or three vehicles to the scene and now we can just bring one equipped with all the capabilities we need. For our department this upgrade was necessary.”
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.
“A lot of departments are living off of barbecue fundraisers and raffles. When they can get a truck like this that can protect their citizens there are so many benefits to it.”