On Saturday, 11/09/2013 members of the Rusk County Firefighters Association Traveled to Henderson, Texas for the annual Syrup Festival. The member departments that were present included:

• Crims Chapel VFD
• East Side VFD
• Elderville Lakeport VFD
• Henderson Fire Department
• Kilgore Fire Department
• Laneville VFD
• Mount Enterprise VFD
• New London VFD
• Overton VFD

There were plenty of smiling faces with the house prop (see right) that let the children play fireman while putting out "fires" using our "fire hose."  Also the RCFFA sold T-Shirts, Backpacks, and other items along with goody bags for the kids and  raffle tickets for a chicken coop, deer feeder, and game camera all with proceeds benefiting the fire departments.

We had a great time at the Syrup Festival and hope you will come see us and the rest of the fire departments next year.

On 11/07/2013 Lone Star Fire Specialties was on hand to perform annual pump testing, which is required by NFPA and ISO, the organization responsible for providing ratings of fire departments for Insurance Purposes.

Dale Alexander (a firefighter for the city of Arlington, Tx) and his team came to our Central Fire Station to perform the tests minimizing down time and allowing us to avoid taking resources out of service as opposed to going and doing the testing elsewhere. The crew of Lone Star Fire Specialties is experienced and trained in the proper techniques of testing fire apparatus pumps, and delivers accurate test results that could help to determine if there are any issues with our equipment that should be addressed.

For More Pictures go here.

Have you ever thought about becoming a firefighter? You can do it! Even if you don't want to make a career out of it local rural fire departments need volunteers on an as needed/whenever you can make it basis. 

I recently came across the cartoon to the left,  drawn by Paul Combs. As i looked at the image i realized how true it is. It seems that the proverbial well for volunteer firefighters is running dry. In other words it seems that these days it is becoming more and more difficult to get good people to come and volunteer than it was in days gone by.

Many think that you have to be extraordinary to join, or that it takes too much time, or maybe that they have to be trained to join. And because of this many departmens miss out on great volunteers. Volunteers are the heart of organizations like ours and they make fire protection a reality in rural areas where there would not otherwise be fire protection.

Over 70 percent of all firefighters are Volunteers and go to fires when they are not working at their full time jobs or otherwise unavailable. These firemen are issued protective equipment and given free training to become firefighters. Anyone can join, and departments all around the country need you! 

Maybe you're thinking "I Can't Do It," or "I Don't Have Time," but you will never know until you try. 

 If you live in the Elderville Lakeport VFD response area call 903-643-3222 and find out how you can volunteer today!

  If you live somewhere else visit http://www.volfire.com/ or Call 1-800-FIRELINE and they can place you in touch with your local Volunteer Fire Department.