Official site of Tribune News serving Tomball, Magnolia and Waller

The Magnolia Volunteer Fire Department (MVFD) has received a federal grant to purchase top of the line smoke detectors for area residents.

The department will receive more than $70,000 from the federal government to purchase the detectors, through a FEMA fire prevention safety grant. The grant, which is funded 75 percent by FEMA and 25 percent by the MVFD, means that the total amount will add up to more than $88,000.

"Since it is a share grant we have to kick in 25 percent, which will be a little less than $18,000," said MVFD assistant chief Rusty Griffith.

The grant will allow the department to purchase 2,000 units with 10-year lithium batteries, plus an additional 500 batteries.

According to Griffith, 20 percent of homes with smoke detectors have units that do not work, while four percent of homes do not have a smoke detector at all. He said the risk of a fire related death or injury greatly decreases in homes with working detectors.

"Our goal is to have at least one working unit in each home in the district," he said. "It greatly improves the chance of survival."

He said he hopes to have the process completed by the end of the year, so that by the beginning of 2013 they will be ready to hand out the units. Once MVFD receives the final go ahead from FEMA they will request bids to purchase the detectors. He estimated that within 12-18 months the department will have handed out the units and completed the program.

Griffith said the department was thrilled to receive the grant, because it is a competitive process.

"You don't always expect to get a competitive grant," he said.

The district, which covers 165 square miles and serves nearly 70,000 people, runs strictly off paid part-time staffing and volunteers. Last year they answered almost 4,000 calls. With a limited staff and budget constraints, fire prevention is key to the department.

"We will target areas where our fire deaths occur first," Griffith said, adding that the department will come and install the units for free.

To secure one of the free 10-year smoke detectors, Griffith said be on the lookout for an announcement on the departments web page at magnoliafire.org. For more information call 281-356-3288.

A large home near Stagecoach caught fire the morning of Feb. 25, causing problems for firefighters as high winds caused it to rapidly spread.

The house fire, just behind a convenience store on Stagecoach Road, gutted most of the home, as Magnolia firefighters battled it for several hours.

"No one was hurt or injured in the fire," said Magnolia Fire Chief Gary Vincent. "The size impacted the way we had to fight the fire. Fireground operations lasted several hours, including salvage and recovery of some of the homeowner's belongings."

Vincent said that the department called in several other departments to provide aid, once the fire escalated into a multiple alarm fire.

"High winds helped to drive the fire throughout much of the home and the attic had 2-by-6 beams, which made it difficult to access," he said.

Vincent said that while the fire was spreading rapidly throughout the home, they were able to save another building on the property, as well as keep the fire from spreading to nearby trees and pastures.

"There was one exposure building we were able to save," he said.

He also said that part of the home was able to be saved as well.

"I believe part of the home was able to be salvaged," he said. "We used protective covers to save numerous items of furniture from fire, smoke and water damage."

Several witnesses nearby said it looked as if the fire started in a vehicle in the driveway. That vehicle was completely burned in the home's driveway, as fire marshals began their investigation into the cause.

Vincent and Montgomery County Fire Marshal Jimmy Williams both said that the cause of the fire was still undetermined.

Williams said he expects the investigation to be wrapped up within the next week or so.

Thanks to careful planning and astute spending, the Magnolia Volunteer Fire Department has been able to acquire four new tanker trucks. They are also  building three new station locations over the next few months. The department says it needs these upgrades in order to provide a dependable source of fire protection in some of Magnolia's most remote areas, but there is another benefit to all homeowners in the area – lower homeowner insurance premiums. Residents will pay less for insurance if their local fire department is modern and effective, which is what the Magnolia department has been working toward.

Fire Chief Gary Vincent explains.

"Every ten years, fire departments are rated by the Insurance Services Organi-zation (ISO)," he said. "These ratings are used by the insurance companies to help determine the prices that they will charge for homeowner's insurance. The highest rating is a '1' and the lowest is a '10,' which represents the most risk. The fire department is rated for each of its separate service areas. In Magnolia, the individual ratings go all the way from 1 to 10, but the department averages a 3. This is actually a very good score for a department where few homes have fire hydrants nearby. Our department services a broad area that is two-thirds the size of Austin, and growing."

To maintain this high rating with a growing population, the department administration plans ahead and gets competitive bids on everything. They spent more than two years planning for and designing the new tanker trucks, which were made by Farrara Fire Apparatus in Holden, La.

"We designed places for all the equipment to go that would give us fast, easy access, and even designed the red, black and gold color scheme for the trucks," Vincent said. "We think it gives them an identifiable, traditional look."

The new trucks will be strategically placed in stations where they will benefit the ISO rating of the area.

The new tanker trucks are state-of-the art, capable of carrying 3,300 gallons of water (which is considerably more than the existing tankers), four firefighters, EMS equipment, ladders and a thousand feet of five-inch supply hose. The trucks are still being outfitted at the station, but they should be ready to roll in early April and will bring the existing fleet up to 11 fire trucks.

Magnolia firefighter Josh Griffith is one of several firefighters who have been helping to outfit the new trucks.

"It's a luxury for us to be able to get our water, equipment and manpower to the fire all at once in one vehicle – these trucks are a valuable asset,"  Griffith said.

Along with the new trucks, three new fire stations are being constructed in locations that did not have ready access to an existing station.

"The codes go up all the time. In the past, a home could be located within a five-mile radius of a station and maintain a good rating, but now a home must be within five 'road miles' of a station," Vincent said. "Since most of our roads are winding, that makes a big difference. The later requirement left several areas with low ISO ratings. Our new stations will boost the ratings and provide more comprehensive coverage for the community."

Not all the stations are manned, although all do contain equipment the firefighters can utilize as soon as they get there.

Magnolia began as an all-volunteer fire department. Now, it has approximately 100 part-time paid firefighters who man the larger stations during the day. The department still maintains another hundred volunteers who man stations on nights and weekends, and who will be deployed to fight fire emergencies at other times.

"We are always in need of more firefighters and more volunteers in general. Many of our volunteers don't go near the fires, but they are critical to the operation of our department," said Vincent. 

The Magnolia department is funded by Emergency Services District 10. Vincent mentioned that the enhancements were funded with existing revenue.

"We are good stewards of taxpayer dollars," he said. "We look for ways to invest wisely and keep spending down."

As an example, the new tanker trucks were outfitted in the station to avoid the costs of the factory doing the work. Another example - the main Magnolia Fire Station contains furniture that was built in Texas prisons, which kept the price down.

Fire trucks last about 20 years, but it takes two to three years after the money is appropriated to design and obtain the new trucks, then it takes two months or more to train the firefighters to properly use a new one. Training goes on all the time, according to Vincent.

Those wishing to volunteer can find information on the website: www.magnoliafire.org.

A family home in Montgomery County is a complete loss, after fire officials say that unattended cooking led to a massive fire, over Labor Day weekend.

Montgomery County Fire Marshal Jimmy Williams said that the fire started when the family left some items cooking and forgot about them.

“The homeowner was preparing to cook and went to a different part of the house and said they forgot about it,” he said. “It started in the kitchen and then spread into the rest of the home.”

The home, a large two-story home, is located on Johlke Lane near Decker Prarie Road.

Magnolia Fire Chief Gary Vincent said the fire spread quickly and they called in help from the Tomball and Rosehill fire departments.

Williams said the homeowners have insurance.