Presidio VFDPresidio County, Texas

Every call in Presidio is answered by a volunteer.

One station at 100 E FM 170, on the Rio Grande, at the bottom of a Texas county that runs 3,856 square miles. Nobody on this crew is on a payroll. They have day jobs, and they are the reason a truck rolls at all.

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3,856square miles in the county
6,131people in all of it
1station in Presidio
0paid firefighters here

How far is far out here

Pick a direction out of the station. The number is real road mileage, and every mile of it is driven by somebody who volunteered for the trip.

20 miles of road
A highway running from the Presidio station out to the horizon at night 86 mi 30 mi 20 mi the bridge STATION 1

Shafter is a mostly deserted silver mining town about twenty miles up US 67. Twenty miles of two lane highway happens before anybody arrives, and the water arrives on the truck.

Presidio, Texas. Population 3,264. The nearest town bigger than it is in another country.

Presidio means fortress. The town sits where the Rio Conchos runs into the Rio Grande, and the bridge to Ojinaga has been open since 1917.

The fire department has no payroll. When the tones drop, the people who show up are neighbors who left dinner on the table, and they are covering a stretch of Texas most people only ever drive through. In February the department put another truck in service, which added capacity for wildfire, structure fires and mutual aid across the region. That is what progress looks like out here: one piece of equipment at a time, paid for by a town of three thousand.

What the crew answers

One station. Volunteers only. Dial 911 for any of it.

  • Structure fire

    Homes and buildings in town and in the county, with whatever water the apparatus carries in.

  • Wildland and brush

    The desert grass fire season that runs long and hot in the Big Bend, including the calls that escape a controlled burn.

  • Vehicle wrecks

    US 67 north and FM 170 both directions, on roads with long gaps between one set of headlights and the next.

  • Medical first response

    The first trained people on scene, often well before anything else can get here.

  • Mutual aid

    Rolling out to help other Presidio County departments, and taking their help back when it is Presidio's turn.

Join the department

You do not need a background in the fire service. Volunteer departments train people from zero, and the thing they need most is somebody who lives close enough to get to the station and is willing to keep showing up.

Message the crew and ask what Presidio needs right now. Somebody will tell you straight.

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Support the crew

Equipment, fuel and training on a border town budget. If you want to give, or you have gear, a service or a skill to offer, ask on Facebook or Instagram what would actually help this month.

See what they need

Reach the department

911

For any emergency, in town or anywhere in the county. Call first, every time. The pages below are for everything that is not an emergency.