If you have an emergency, dial 911.
A brief history on where Crims Chapel VFD came from, where we are today, and where we hope to be in the future service of our citizens.
Crims Chapel VFD is an all volunteer department which was established in 1989 to provide Fire Suppression services to rural areas of northern Rusk County previously covered by Elderville and Henderson Fire Departments.
Our first station was located on CR 254 just off of State Hwy. 322, almost equally splitting the distance between the previous fire departments and reducing the response time of fire suppression services substantially.
Over the next 12 years, mining in the area by a local utility service led to a substantial decrease in homes and population around the Crims Chapel community along FM 782, Hwy. 322, and the many of the county roads in between. Where many homes used to be, open land now dominated the area, and eventually it came time to relocate our station to accommodate ongoing mining operations.
In 2001 a new station was built on CR 241, and our services were relocated to our current station today. This provided a more centralized location as we took in response areas previously covered by Kilgore FD along FM 2276, and FM 1249 that were previously too far from our old location.
Crims Chapel VFD is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, which provides fire suppression, rescue, and medical first response with some of the finest modern firefighting equipment many departments can only dream of. We have come a long way from our first 1954 Model fire engine obtained from White Settlement Fire Department in the beginning, to our lineup of modern state of the art apparatus we house in our station today.
With the establishment of Rusk County Emergency Service District #1, much of our funding is now provided by the taxpayers of Rusk County, with a portion coming from grants, and the generous donations of citizens, local businesses, and fundraisers.
As many volunteer fire departments struggle with staffing shortages today, we do as well. The increasing standards for fire and medical certifications had made it much more difficult to recruit and retain qualified members. For better or worse, the “good-ole days” of joining up, getting your gear, and running into the flames are gone.
Today we have a core of dedicated volunteer professionals whom still serve the Crims Chapel and surrounding areas of Rusk County. Several of our members are certified through the Texas Commission on Fire Protection (TCFP) and State Fire & Fire Marshall’s Association (SFFMA) as Structural, Rescue, and Wildland Firefighters.
As a certified Texas Department of State Health Services (TDSHS) medical first responder organization (FRO), we currently have two Paramedics, one EMT, and an EMR whom provide basic life support (BLS) medical first responder services.
We look forward to serving the citizens of our community for many years to come, and thank you for viewing our page. We invite you to like and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for updates on response calls, public safety announcements, and weather alerts.
*Now, the legal and disclaimer information*
This page is not a means to report emergencies or incidents that require immediate attention.
If is not an emergency, refer to the following: If you are within the City of Henderson, dial 903-657-3512. (Henderson Police Department) If you are in Rusk County, dial 903-657-3581. (Rusk County Sheriff’s Office) If you are within the City of Overton, dial 903-834-3145. (Overton Police Department) If you are within the City of Kilgore, dial 903-983-1559. (Kilgore Police Department) Each of the above agencies is responsible for dispatch of police and fire resources where needed.
We encourage posts and comments from the public about issues related to Emergency Management and Public Safety in Rusk County as one of our goals is to exchange and provide timely information to the public at large as well as media and emergency partners.
By choosing to post or comment on this page, you agree to abide by the terms and conditions outlined below. Crims Chapel VFD is responsible for monitoring all content posted to this page.
In the interest of protecting users of this page from harmful and / or inappropriate content, Crims Chapel VFD reserves the right to regulate the content of, and where necessary, remove objectionable comments or posts containing any of the following:
• Advertisements of any kind.
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• Content that promotes, fosters, or perpetuates discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, age, religion, gender, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, national origin, physical or mental disability, or sexual orientation.
• Explicit or implied sexual content.
• Conduct implying, promoting, or encouraging illegal activity.
• Information that might compromise the safety or security of the public or emergency responders.
• Any other posting that, by its nature or content, might harm public welfare.
• Comments/posts that are repetitive
• Comments on post/photos that do not pertain to the page post.
• Any other posting that, by its nature or content, might harm the integrity of managing an incident or investigation.
All posts are reviewed and documented before removal from the page. Multiple violations of the above conditions will subject a user to being permanently banned from any future comments or postings to this page.
Crims Chapel VFD does not control or endorse any content on profiles of users who “like” our page, nor do we endorse any advertisements promoted on Facebook. These ads are displayed by vendors and do not express the views of Crims Chapel VFD or the page administrators.
