Montgomery County officials learned a federal grant will be available to help cover costs from the Pauline Road Fire, which affected 2,360 acres in the county in March 2025.
During the July 23 Montgomery County Commissioners Court meeting, Jason Millsaps, executive director for the county’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, said a fire management assistance grant, or FMAG, for $40,379 approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency in March was in the process of being finalized. Millsaps also shared a plan for mobile emergency response barriers to better implement traffic safety.
Taking a step back
According to FEMA, the FMAG program is available to states, local and tribal governments for mitigation, management and the control of fires. On March 20, Gov. Greg Abbott announced that FEMA had approved the state’s request for the FMAG due to the fire.
The county recovered $53,839, of which Millsaps said the county will receive $40,379 after a 25% cost match, and it will be distributed among several county emergency services departments. Montgomery County is the first to get an FMAG this quickly among the agencies involved, Millsaps said.
Also worth noting
Millsaps also presented information regarding a request to purchase mobile emergency response barriers for traffic management. Traffic incidents are causing increased concern for first responders, including law enforcement and emergency management, Millsaps said.
“We live in an environment now where we are no longer safe on the roadway as we're sitting there working at [a] collision or an investigation, or dealing with a medical emergency or a fire along the roadway. We've had a number of fire trucks [get] hit [and] unfortunately, a deputy [was] hit just a few weeks ago and killed,” Millsaps said.
Emergency response barriers are being used, including in Montgomery County and specifically with the North Montgomery County Fire Department, he said. The barriers are truck-driven, tractor-pulled trailers dispatched automatically on dispatched collisions for Montgomery County fire and law enforcement to safely block multiple traffic lanes.
Montgomery County Sheriff Wesley Doolittle said that he fully supports doing what’s best for the safety of the community.
“Anything that we can do to make it a little bit safer, I'm for. I think that we should be constantly reevaluating our processes, our equipment, and making sure that we're keeping people safe and not just our first responders that are out there, but our motoring public to make sure that we're communicating clearly to them with the direction they need to move in. The more information we can give them early and a better heads up, it's going to prevent these further accidents,” Doolittle said.
One barrier unit will cost $650,000, including the tractor, trailer and the outfitting to get it on the road, Millsaps said. The largest expense will be the ongoing staffing needed. Four staff members will need to be assigned to each unit to keep it operating on a 24/7 rotation, Millsaps added. A preliminary salary for a staff member assigned to a unit could range from $52,000-$53,000 per truck. The cost per truck to staff would be $328,000. Millsaps proposed purchasing three units, noting that the company that makes the product has one available for delivery within the next two to three weeks.
The hotspots in the area are I-45 from the county line north to Conroe, but units would run through the following corridors, including any farm-to-market roads required for use based on traffic incidents:
- I-45 corridor
- Hwy. 249 corridor
- FM 1488 corridor
- Hwy. 59/ Hwy. 69 corridor
Commissioners will further discuss and make a decision on how to handle the request for traffic barriers Aug. 12 during the budget workshop meeting.
What else?
Continuing an ongoing Commissioners Court discussion regarding the location for a new jail, Doolittle proposed the building of a new jail by the current one on 41 acres by the Montgomery County Mental Health facility located at 700 Hilbig Road. The county owns the land at the current property.
“We're asking that we can go out for a request for qualifications and a possible funding source if we do get a qualified engineering firm and can move forward with funding that,” Doolittle said.
Commissioners voted 4-0 on the jail assessment update, establishing a location and authorizing future priorities. After executive session, Doolittle asked commissioners to defer identifying the funding source until the next court session, when they can discuss it with the budget office.
