02/19/2022
We here at Quinlan VFD would like to take a minute to update the community as to our current situation with the county, hospital district, and city due to all the misinformation being passed around on social media.
As of October 1st, 2021, the city of Quinlan canceled our contract, as the first responding FD to run calls within the city limits. Cash FD will now be the first dept toned to calls within the city limits and we are the 2nd dept responding if they are not available. We do intend and are working towards getting our contract reinstated with the city.
Yes, we are also on probation with the hospital district, and yes, we have a contract with them. We are responsible for responding to all medical calls we receive outside of the city limits and inside the city limits when needed. No, we are not receiving funding from the hospital at this time, our monies are being split between the 4 neighboring departments, that respond with us to calls. This is fine, we want calls covered.
Yes, we are in constant contact with the County Commissioners, Judge, and Fire Marshals office. We do have a contract with the county, and we are receiving our monies from them. We do not have other departments respond with us unless it is a medical call box alarm call, and they are needed. Our box alarms are used for all grass fires and structure fires. This way we have several departments responding to those calls and not just us. Every department in the county has its own box alarms for its district.
Yes, our doors are open, and we are up and running. We are currently accepting applications and need volunteers to help. Every department in the county could use more volunteers not just ours, we understand this isn’t for everyone, but someone must do the job.
Not having volunteers is not just a Quinlan VFD problem. 80% of fire departments across the US are volunteers. It is extremely hard to find someone willing to run into a burning house, comfort a child with a traumatic injury, or hold the hand of someone in an accident who might not make it. It’s hard-to-find people willing to climb into a wrecked car to take care of a patient being cut out of the wreckage. It’s hard to find someone willing to stand with a sobbing mom who just lost her child in a fire …. IT’S HARD
This job is not glamorous, it's not about a t-shirt or running the lights and sirens on a firetruck…. it’s about being able to give yourself to the community and following rules. We are in this position now because we have several of our members who work in 911 and have been working overtime shifts since Covid began on top of members in paramedic school, fire school, and nursing school trying to achieve a higher level of care to give our community. In addition, some people just walked away who just didn’t want to help anymore or follow the rules and it’s been hard for us to come out of, BUT we are climbing and doing our best to build our station back up. We have had a great response to our Facebook application, there’s a link on our page if you would like one, and we are in the middle of processing several new members. We also have numerous interviews this weekend and next week with potential members.
So, this is our update and what we have had to endure for the past several months. We apologize for not updating our community sooner, but we have been trying to keep our morale high, spirits up, and working hard on keeping our station covered. We do run on a schedule and work with people’s jobs and family time. We appreciate all the positive feedback that we have gotten from the community and yes, we have seen all the negativity on social media. With that being said, we do not comment on the negativity, nor do we post it on social media.
We do appreciate everyone taking the time to read our update and look forward to being able to serve our city again and will continue to serve our community with pride and our heads held high.
