TX Chief Finds the Good in Fire that Damaged Station, Destroyed Apparatus

The chief of the Lake Arrowhead, TX, Volunteer Fire Department said his worst nightmare came true this weekend when he received a call that his fire station was on fire Saturday night. Fire Chief Mike Hall was just two bites into dinner when his cell phone rang around 7 p.m.

"The ambulance crew called and asked 'Are you alright?' and I asked why and they told me the fire station is on fire," Hall said. “It’s my worst nightmare and I got confronted with it...my stomach went to my feet."

He had just driven by the station about 30 minutes before the fire was discovered by a police officer.

Hall and his family rushed back to Henrietta to find the fire at the one-story Lake Arrowhead VFD knocked down, but they full extent of the damage had not been determined.

Three brush trucks inside the station were destroyed by extreme heat and heavy smoke. The apparatus bay of the tin fire station suffered extensive heat and smoke damage and a closed door to the office area limited that damage to smoke.

Hall said the department is left with two SCBA and a couple of sets of PPE. "The (apparatus) bay is destroyed. It was so hot that it melted everything."

"I was very fortunate that my tender was not damaged and that will allow us to continue responding," Hall said of the apparatus stored in a building adjacent to the fire station. "I can still do structure fires, but grass fires are a little harder and that’s what we most often do."

Hall added that they didn’t get hit as bad as they could have because some of the equipment was in the office and only had smoke damage. Firefighters and others came to station Sunday morning to clean up and assess the damage.

"I had one new firefighter who joined last week and she was a big help with us getting things cleaned up," Hall said.

Equipment stored in toolboxes were not damaged, but equipment left out in the apparatus bay, or on the outside of the apparatus—such as ladders—were rendered useless. Two trailers worth of equipment was hauled off to the dump.

"Right now I'm just trying to keep track of what I've got," Hall said on Monday. 

Hall said residents have been very supportive as they learn about the fire.

“Somebody even stopped by and left us a pecan pie," he said.

In addition to the tender located at the main fire station, the department as a brush truck as a substation about 15 miles away.

The Texas Forest Service is loaning them a Type 6 brush truck and two other departments offered to loan apparatus to Lake Arrowhead.

The department responds to between 50 and 200 calls annually, but the busiest time of the year is around July 4 when fireworks spark fires and the brush trucks are put to heavy use. 

Hall said there were two positive outcomes from the fire: it helped boost the ranks of the department and showed that good can come from social media.

"I actually picked up a couple of members since the fire," he said, noting that a few residents applied to volunteer for their community, including a former fire chief from another town.

Within hours of the department posting photos of the damage on their Facebook page, they received messages from those looking to donate. Fire departments in New Jersey and Ohio have contacted them to donate equipment and gear.

"Social media can be a good thing," Hall said. "It's incredible how quickly word spread and how so many wanted to help."

The department set up a GoFundMe page to accept donations to help replace equipment and fund repairs to the 37-year-old fire station.

"We’re crippled, but not dead," Hall said.