Our Town Wolfforth: Fire department growing with city

WOLFFORTH, Texas (KJTV) - Over the next decade, Wolfforth’s population is expected to double. In order to accommodate that growth, the fire department is expanding as well — becoming a fully paid department. Fire Chief Lance Barrett calls this a monumental move.

“And, what that’s going to allow is to do is just have a better response, a more-rounded response. We’ll be able to do EMS calls as well as fire calls without having to depend on people so much coming from the volunteer side,” Chief Barret said. “And also, we rely heavily on neighboring departments to supplement us with people. We’ll still be needing them, but not to such a degree- and hopefully, we can help them out in turn by having that guaranteed staffing all the time. It’s very, very unique and very, very good for the citizens and it’s good for us as our community.”

Barret talked about the role volunteers play in fighting fires, not just in Wolfforth but all over the world.

“The fire service was built off the backs of volunteers, and has been forever,” he said. “I mean the volunteer fire service was the beginning of the fire service. I want to say around 75 or 80 percent of all the firefighters in the United States are all volunteer.”

Whether it be paid or volunteer service, there is a much sacrifice involved.

“My guys leave their families and their jobs all the time to come help out. It’s a lot to ask of a person to do that, but they do it because they know it’s the right thing to do, and they truly love to do it,” Chief Barret said. “You’d have to love it to do it. They’re good folks, they’re really good people and genuinely care about what they do and the service that they provide.”

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