People who call 911 expect help to arrive fast. But it can take a while for emergency services to reach rural areas in Collin County where fire departments already have limited resources — and might not be able to help some people in distress.
Blue Ridge has a population of about 1,000 people. It’s less than two square miles in size. But its volunteer fire department serves 68 square miles of unincorporated land in Collin County in addition to its own residents. That’s mostly rural areas that aren’t annexed into any cities or towns. Blue Ridge, which is about 20 miles northeast of McKinney, answers 911 calls in unincorporated Collin County as far as the Fannin and Hunt County borders.
Collin County pays cities and towns like Blue Ridge to have their fire department answer 911 calls in neighboring unincorporated areas. Edie Sims, the Blue Ridge city secretary, said what they get from the county isn’t enough to meet the growing demand for services. She said the demand is straining the small town’s limited resources.
“We still have rock streets,” she said. “We still have a lot of dedicated issues to take care of within our city.”
Limited Resources
Blue Ridge can’t afford to pay its firefighters. The fire department relies on volunteers like Billy Dunn and Alyssa Phifer, who volunteer on their days off from working as an ambulance driver and firefighter elsewhere.
Outside Blue Ridge’s fire station, Phifer flushes out the truck’s tank to make sure the water is clean. She works as a firefighter in Bonham — and that job is similar to what she does in Blue Ridge. But Phifer said the resources aren’t the same at the volunteer department.
The fire trucks Dunn and Phifer use are old and need a lot of maintenance.
“We have to make sure that we know how to troubleshoot things,” she said. “If something goes wrong while we’re on a scene, we need to know how to fix it.”
Blue Ridge recently spent $40,000 on repairs on an engine that’s worth less than the cost of repairs. Another one requires extra people because the brakes aren’t the best.
“Her air brakes don’t work, so we have to have people to come up and chock the wheels so she doesn’t roll away from the scene,” Dunn said.
But a new truck costs at least $2 million dollars. Blue Ridge gets $80,000 of the $1 million budget Collin County sets aside for fire services in unincorporated areas. The city spends about $44,000 a year for fire services. That funding covers fuel, utilities and insurance for the fire department.
The majority of the 911 calls Blue Ridge firefighters respond to are in unincorporated areas. From Jan. 1 to Aug. 26, they answered 194 calls for help in the unincorporated areas, compared to 80 calls in Blue Ridge.
Jason Brazil, the Blue Ridge fire chief, said the long distances volunteers have to travel for county calls drives up fuel costs and adds wear and tear to the aging trucks.
“We’re almost subsidizing the county calls with city funds,” Brazil said.
He said the county hasn’t increased the budget for fire services in the unincorporated areas in over a decade.
Jason Browning, the Collin County fire marshal, said there have been some additional funds to pay for things along the way, such as money for a new digital radio system. But for the most part, the county’s budget for fire services in unincorporated areas has stayed at $1 million.
Browning said he’s seen a lot of population growth in Collin County in his 12-year tenure as fire marshal. He said that leads to an increase in demand for emergency aid.
“There’s budgetary concerns because as we’re growing, we can’t keep up with the tools we need for the services,” Browning said.
More money from the county would make a difference for Blue Ridge. Brazil said it could pay for much-needed new equipment or paid positions at the fire department. He said volunteers are burning out, which impacts the fire department’s ability to provide services.
“It’s just a revolving door, and it’s concerning because you never know from one call the next how many is going to show up,” Brazil said.
But hiring paid personnel for the fire department would cost at least $200,000 annually. And Sims said the town would need an additional $300,000 for equipment costs.
Answering the call
Unlike paid firefighters, volunteers at the Blue Ridge fire department don’t have to spend their shifts at the station. Phifer and Dunn go home to their ranch once they’re finished flushing out the truck and rolling up hoses. They need to check on their animals.
They have several sheep and goats, a pig named Bacon and 10 horses — including one horse that was very interested KERA’s recording equipment.
“He’s trying to put it in his mouth!” Phifer said.
The ranch is also home to lots of dogs, two squirrels who live in a hamster cage in the living room that sometimes climb on Phifer and Dunn’s shoulders, and a female emu named Kevin who helps guard the sheep.
Phifer and Dunn have their emergency radios with them while they’re checking on the animals. It takes them about eight minutes to get from the ranch to the fire station. Then, they have to drive to the call — which could be several miles away.
Dunn said every second counts in emergencies.
“Fifteen minutes could be the difference between just your kitchen being on fire and us being able to go and save the house, versus your whole house being on fire,” he said.
It can take a while to get back to Blue Ridge from some of the unincorporated areas. That means Blue Ridge citizens may have to wait for help from their own fire department.
Melissa city manager Jason Little said his city’s fire department ran into the same issue. Melissa stopped serving the unincorporated areas earlier this month after ending its contract with the county last year.
“It’s impossible with one fire station to cover that amount of square mileage and still be here for our community,” Little said.
Long term solutions
Brazil said other cities also are thinking about opting out unless they get more money from the county. He said the fire departments don’t want to stop helping people. But they need more aid.
Denton County recently decided to restructure how it approaches fire and emergency services in its unincorporated county areas. Over the next few years, the county will take a more active role in providing fire and EMS services in its unincorporated areas, redesignating it as the Denton County emergency response area.
Brazil said Collin County should follow Denton’s example.
“What’s going on over there that they can afford it, but we can’t over here?” Brazil said. “Collin County is supposed to be one of the richest counties in Texas, but we’re not acting like it.”
Yoon Kim, the Collin County administrator, said the county commissioners recognize there’s an issue and are looking into what solution would be best for the county.
“We want to do the right thing,” Kim said. “There’s a lot of models, and there’s a lot of different ways this could go. But at this time, we just don’t have a definitive policy set yet.”
Until that’s figured out, volunteer firefighters like Dunn and Phifer will keep using the resources they have available to answer people’s calls for help.
Got a tip? Email Caroline Love at clove@kera.org.
Caroline Love is a Report For America corps member for KERA News.
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