As costs for training, equipment and facilities climb, the city of Friendswood is strategizing to preserve and grow its volunteer firefighter force and improve its response times.
The details
Friendswood City Council voted unanimously at its Sept. 14 meeting to enter a three-year $1 million contract with the Friendswood Volunteer Fire Department, which outlines standards for personnel, response times, mutual aid and equipment.
Since 1951, volunteer firefighters in Friendswood have provided tens of thousands of hours each year for emergency response and training, saving the city $5 million that it would otherwise have to spend to finance a fully paid fire department, according to city documents.
Currently, the volunteer fire department provides personnel and operates a paid day crew, while the city provides facilities and most of the equipment, according to a presentation at the meeting.
On Jan. 1, as part of the new agreement, the city will take over managing the daily operations of the day crew, Friendswood Emergency Services Director Brian Mansfield said at the meeting.
The city will also provide insurance and take over maintenance of all four of its fire stations, Mansfield said.
Diving in deeper
The contract sets a response-time standard of having 10 responders on scene within 10 minutes, 80% of the time, according to the presentation.
Since 2023, the department has received more calls for service and has improved its response times, Mansfield said.
However, the paid day crews still have better response times than the department’s volunteers, according to the presentation. Increasing staffing from volunteers or surrounding areas could help improve the department’s performance, Mansfield said.
Council member Sally Branson said the volunteer firefighters are often traveling to the scene from their homes and are delayed by traffic congestion, and added that the city’s efforts to improve traffic flow in Friendswood would help improve response times.
What else?
Mansfield confirmed the city’s 24-person commissioned day crew had been certified by the Texas Commission on Fire Protection, but could not confirm at the meeting how many volunteers had equivalent certification.
Council member Robert Griffon said he would like to see more certified volunteer firefighters, which he believed could help lower response times.
“For 75 years we’ve had volunteers being the backbone of our Friendswood Volunteer Fire Department and I would like to see for the next 75 years for them to be an integral part, but we’re here to make those response times and what we’re looking at is augmenting that,” Griffon said. “We’re not asking to replace them.”
