PARKER COUNTY – As the number of fires, and risk of fires, rises across North and Central Texas, it is volunteer firefighters who shoulder most of the load.
The state has more than 1,400 volunteer departments staffed by 35,000 men and women who receive no compensation.
At least, no paycheck, anyway. They will tell you there are other rewards.
"Last 24 hours, we spent five-and-a-half hours on a grass fire. EMS call shortly after that; 4 a.m. this morning, we had another EMS call," said Captain Rod Bass of the Greenwood VFD. He answered two more calls Friday morning.
Bass could have been sawing logs instead of checking brush trucks Friday afternoon.
"I'm totally worn out," he told us. His paying job is with FedEx. "I like helping people."
We dropped in Friday on a couple of Parker County departments that rely mainly on volunteers. Rick Brown was helping out at the Spring Creek Station, south of Weatherford.
"Vice president of a company over in Dallas. Retired," he said. Brown is also a former Marine.
He got 23 stitches up his arm from a home mishap Thursday, then came to support fellow firefighters, with his arm laced up like a baseball glove. Why?
"When you leave a scene, you feel like you've truly helped somebody," Brown said.
He was still too badly hurt to actually go out on a truck with other firefighters, like Battalion Chief Don Schauer.
"I'm a flight paramedic with Children's Medical Center Dallas," Schauer said.
He was on duty with 23-year-old Nathan Sosebee.
"I have my masters in medical sciences. Bachelors in bio-medical sciences," Sosebee said. He's applying to med schools.
He and Don Schauer were the only two paid firefighters on duty Friday. They're part time employees of Parker County Emergency Services District 6. The rest of the time, they volunteer.
The county needs more volunteers. Parker County Emergency Services Director George Teague says it's getting harder to recruit them. Households have both parents working. The jobs are often in Fort Worth.
"Once you're a firefighter in this brotherhood/sisterhood, it's a passion," Chief Schauer said.
The Greenwood VFD, further west in Parker County, has about 45 to 50 on its roster. Almost all volunteers. That's more than most departments have, but they say they could use more still.
There we found former IBM executive John Burgoyne and wife, Nancy. Both volunteers. Nancy is also the department chaplain.
We first met John Burgoyne in 2011 at the Possum Kingdom fires. On the line. Sweaty from flames and sun.
He's 73 now. If the bell rings, he'll answer it.
