My fire department will be on the local news TONIGHT!

KENS 5 was in Brackettville today to interview our department and some of the powers that be on the situation of the city and the county jointly deciding (without addressing any of BVFD's legal concerns) that BVFD had no rights to its trucks and that our engines should be handed over to KCFR. Which they were.


We're told the story will air at either 5 or 6 p.m. Please tune in if you can!

BVFD has had better days.

Two fires in one day weren't enough to kick our butts, we needed the City and the County to really finish us off. Read BVFD's devastating news here. These may be the last photographs of BVFD fighting a fire that anyone will ever be able to capture.

See all of today's fire pix here.

Grass Valley Grass Fire north of Brackettville

One of our volunteer fire department guys running the pump for the fire hose. That's a two day old moon shining down on him from the west.

It's a cedar tree catching fire, but it almost looks electric in this shot. I didn't take my tripod tonight for fear I'd melt its feet in smoldering ground, hence the blurry shots. I was permitted to ride with one of the guys in Unit #25. Guess what? On brush fires the trucks NEVER STOP. They just keeping driving from hot spot to hot spot and the guys in the back are hosing the flames from the moving truck. Wish I had a crappy old Jeep or something I could take out to these fires so I'd have wheels of my own and could stop when I want.

Read the whole story here. If you like, you can see all the pix here.

More fires north of Brackettville

THIS FIRE north of Brackettville is burning right now. I went out and snapped a few shots but had to leave because I was low on gas, the sun was setting, and I didn't have a flashlight. It smelled like burning cedar and sounded like rain. It was strangely calm out there. The guys don't have access to vast quantities of water and so were working slowly and carefully so as to maximize what water they had out there. Last I heard, a tanker truck was on its way. But I don't know if it will be enough. This fire was sprawled out rather widely on some rather rocky terrain. These firefighters (Val Verde and Brackettville) are going to be out there for hours tonight.

Brackettville Burn Ban

This is WHAT HAPPENED the other night when a local rancher decided the burn ban in Kinney County didn't apply to him.

Only that narrow, two lane road separated an out of control grass fire from a working farm on the other side of the road. It's been ages since we had any measurable rain. A fire like this could have been devastating. Brackettville is lucky to have a volunteer fire department.

Brackettville Volunteer Fire Department

Sadly, I don't think this house ever had a chance of surviving the fire. It was ingeniously built (gorgeous with amazing touches--so much great detail) from creosote soaked bridge timbers and railroad tires and other scrap wood that the owners were able to find. But all that wood, all that creosote..... it burned and burned and burned until there was nothing left. It was so sad.

The powers that be here seem to think supporting the fire department isn't worth their time, effort, or money. How sad is that? Hubby is a member of the Brackettville Volunteer Fire Department. An entity that is sorely in need of equipment, funds, and a county and city that will support them. If you saw what they were driving you'd be appalled. If you saw their budget, you'd be embarrassed for our community. I shot these photographs of a house fire around midnight one night in the middle of town. Hubby is in the first shot, third silhouette to the right. BVFD blog:

Brackettville Volunteer Fire Department