CRESSON, Texas — The hot Texas summer has brought with it plenty of wildfires and work for fire departments across the state to take care of.
And for many of the smaller towns in the North Texas area, they are made up of firefighters devoting time outside the workplace to keep their communities safe.
Three firefighters were recently treated for injuries as crews battled a growing grass fire in Hood County. Crews were working a fire in the 8300 block of Colony Road near Tolar. Other crews also battled a brush fire in Millsap, officials said Wednesday afternoon.
The Cresson Fire Department helped with most of the fires happening this week, specifically because of how close they are to so many different counties.
The department is made up entirely of volunteers. About 50-60 firefighters are ready to help with fires or calls daily. Depending on firefighters’ availability, the department hopes to have at least 12 volunteers out to the call. For bigger issues, they try to get 20-30 people.
Sam Stoltz is a probationary firefighter with the Cresson Fire Department, just recently joining. He came from Las Vegas and is now living with his grandpa.
"He takes care of me, and I take care of him,” Stoltz said. “It's just something I always wanted to do."
Stoltz full-time job is being the manager of Whataburger in south Fort Worth. He normally gets Thursdays and Fridays off and usually tries to spend that time at the department.
"Icing the trucks, cleaning the trucks,” Stoltz said. “Making sure everything's stocked up and ready for the next fire. It's remarkable seeing all these guys come out here. We all work 50-60 hours a week."
Logan Nelson is one of the department's engineers. He said he gets most of his notifications about calls through apps on his phone.
"If we can go, we go,” Nelson said. “If we can't go, we can't go."
Since Cresson is connected to multiple county lines, the department’s trucks and volunteer firefighters have had a busy couple of months.
"The last few fires, we've come back with something broken,” Nelson said, referencing the department’s trucks.
"This is proving to be a very, very challenging summer,” Cresson Fire Chief Ron Becker said.
Becker said July 2022 was the busiest month his department has ever seen. He said of the 50-60 available firefighters, only two or three weren’t able to make calls this last month. He also said some made as many as 50-60 calls.
"Everybody's throwing in,” Becker said. “We all know that we are getting clobbered, and everybody's trying to do their part."
One of the department's five light brush trucks was recently destroyed when firefighters were helping with a wildfire in Tolar. With those trucks costing about $150,000-$200,000, Becker said his volunteer fire department can’t afford to replace it right now.
"We save and scrimp every penny that we can,” Becker said. “You can tell that we're not very fancy around here."
Even with his department’s limited resources, Becker said he knows his volunteers will come through.
“We have some great firefighters here,” Becker said.
Something Stoltz sees in his colleagues as well.
"They're all just really, really remarkable people,” Stoltz said. “Anybody who is out here volunteering their time to give back to other people. It takes a special kind of something in your heart to be out here to do this stuff for free. Put your life out on the line for free."