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West Valley Volunteer Fire Department
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The West Valley Volunteer Fire Department (WVFD) is one of five county-run volunteer fire departments located in northwest El Paso County, Texas. Area of Responsibility WVFD covers all of El Paso County Emergency Services District #2. This coverage is all of El Paso County north of the city of El Paso, Texas and west of the Franklin Mountains including the town of Anthony, Texas, the village of Vinton, Texas, Canutillo, Texas, and Westway, Texas. The area benefits from the WVFD being ISO Class 4 Certified by lowering insurance costs to local businesses. Stations WVFD has three stations and a Training Facility. Vinton Station *Located at 510 East Vinton Rd in Vinton, Texas. *Serves as the department’s Headquarters. *Administrative Offices *Day Room with cable TV, billiard table, lounge chairs and couches. *Full Professional Kitchen with dining table *Dorms with adjacent showers, sleeping bunks, and individual lockers *Training Room with overhead projector, microphone/speaker system for instructors, and training computers. *Public Lobby with restrooms and vending machines *Eight vehicle Bay area *Fitness Center *Helicopter landing pad *Houses Quint 1, Rescue 1, Tanker 1, Brush 1, Rescue 2, Brush 2, Rescue 3, Training Support Unit, and Tanker 3 (behind the bay) Canutillo Station *Located at 6901 Doniphan Drive in Canutillo, Texas *Four vehicle capacity garage/bay *Houses Pumper 2, Tanker 2, and the 1948 Mack *Not manned, serves as a strategic storage location Anthony Station *Located at 921 South 4th behind the Anthony, Texas town hall. *Single vehicle capacity garage/bay *Houses Pumper 1 *Not manned, serves as a strategic storage location Training Facility *Located at 510 East Vinton Rd in Vinton, Texas behind the Vinton Station. *Three story controlled burn tower *Certified Training Facility Status with the Texas Commission On Fire Protection. Fire Apparatus CHIEF and Utility units are driven by chief officers and are take-home units not kept at the stations. All units are marked and equipped with visual/audio emergency equipment. CHIEF 1 2004 Ford Excursion 4x4 Equipment: onboard computer, incident command, GPS, digital photo evidence, SCBA (Self Contained Breathing Apparatus), hand tools, forcible entry tools, tempature sensing, high angle, water rescue, medical jump bags, AED, and traffic control. PUMPER 1 1989 GMC/American Eagle-structure pumper, 750 gallon tank, 1000 gpm pump, compressed air for foam system, 4kv generator, (4) 500 watt quartz scene lights, 1200 ft of 4 in. LDH (Large Diameter Hose),1000 ft of 2.5 in., 2 pre-connected cross lays of 1 3/4 hose 200 ft each, (1) 1 3/4 in. rear pre-connect 200 ft, and (1) 1 in. red line rear mount reel 200 ft. A brand new tractor is currently being built for Pumper 1 and will be delivered before year end. Housed at the Anthony Station QUINT 1 Built by Ferrara Fire Apparatus Co. TRUCK STATS: Aerial Ladder: 77ft Pump: Waterus 1500 gpm Tank: 400 Gal Hose: 1600ft of 5" supply line 500ft 2.5" supply line (2) 200ft 1 3/4" crosslays pre- connected (1) 100ft 1 3/4" front trash line pre-connectd (1) 200ft 2 1/2" crosslay pre- connected Ground Ladders: (1) 35' (1) 24' (2) 16' (1) 14' Equipment: Hand Tools, Generator, onboard and ambilical lighting, circular saw, chain saw, thermal imager. Housed at the Vinton Station RESCUE 1 1998 Ford F450 Super Duty Light duty Rescue, self-contained 90 gpm "Compressed Air Foam System", (1) 1 in. red line reel, carries Class A and AFFF foam, Hurst hydraulic rescue tools and associated rescue tools, long handle tools, hand tools, Medical jump bag, AED, Micro-Blaze, Vehicle stabilization cribbing, landing zone lights, rotory cut-off saw, pneumatic tools and a 3kv generator with (4) 500 watt quartz scene lights. Housed at the Vinton Station TANKER 1 1990 GMC top kick CSI tanker body, 2000 gallons, 3 10' motorized dumps. Housed at the Vinton Station BRUSH 1 2004 Ford F550 4x4 Brush/medical unit, flat bed with 90 gpm self-contained Compressed Air Foam System with 300 gal. tank, (1) 1 in. red line reel, wildland firefighting tools and equipment, 18" Chain Saw, Self Contained Breathing Apparatus, medical jump bag, and an AED. Housed at the Vinton Station Utility 1 1997 Ford F350 4x4 Equipment: onboard computer, GPS, Incident Command, medical jump bags, AED, hand tools, forcible entry tools, 10,000 lbs front mount winch, temperature sensing, traffic control, 115 gallon external diesel supply tank for fueling apparatus on extended emergencies. CHIEF 2 2001 Ford Expedtion Equipment: Incident Command, Digital photo evidence, Medical jump bags, AED, Hand tools, Forcible entry tools, Firefighting, Temperature sensing, Traffic control. PUMPER 2 2000 Pierce Contender, on an International chassis 1000 Gallon tank, 1250 gpm pump. Housed at the Canutillo Station RESCUE 2 2001 Ford F450 Equipment: Medical jump bag, AED, back boards, GPS, high angle rescue, water rescue, long handle tools, hand tools, vehicle/building lockout tools, traffic control. Housed at the Vinton Station BRUSH 2 2006 Ford F550 4x4 300 gallons water, two - ten gallon foam cells, one is class A foam, the other is microblaze. This unit was desinged for use as a wildland fire rig, and as a mini rescue. It not only carries a variety of tools for brush fires, but it also carries the jaws of life set for vehicle accidents/rescues. Housed at the Vinton Station TANKER 2 2002 International CSI tanker body, 2000 gallon capacity with a 500 gpm pump, 3 10" motorized dumps. Housed at the Canutillo Station CHIEF 3 2004 Ford F250 4x4 Equipment: onboard computer, GPS, incident command, digital photo and video evidence, medical jump bag, AED, hand tools, forcible entry tools, firefighting, high angle rescue and traffic control. PUMPER 3 2001 Pierce Contender Custom chassis, 1000 gallon tank, 1250 gpm pump. Housed at the Vinton Station RESCUE 3 R3 will respond to special rescue situations to include rope rescue, heavy extrication, confined space, water rescue, and other needs as it was designed. Housed at the Vinton Station TANKER 3 1984 International tractor Can pull either of 2, 5000 gal tanks, #1-tank only and #2-tank with 500 gpm pump and 1 10" dump. Housed at the Vinton Station behind the bay Training Support Unit (TSU) 1976 GMC C70. Formerly used in support of large incidents as the Incident Support Unit, the TSU has seen most of its functions and equipment absorbed by Rescue 3 and Quint 1. Rather than de-commission the ISU, it was designated the Training Support Unit. It will carry items such as SCBA's, hose, nozzles, and various other tools and equipment. This will allow WVFD firefighters to conduct drills at the WVFD training ground without stripping equipment off front-line fire apparatus. The on-board cascade system will remain, giving us the capability to re-fill SCBA cylinders at the training ground. Housed at the Vinton Station Vintage 1948 Mack In the beginning, the first Fire Apparatus owned by the Canutillo Volunteer Fire Department was a 1948 Mack, retired from the El Paso Fire Department. The original truck is still owned by the Fire Department, but is being used now for parts in the restoration of an identical 48 Mack also retired from the El Paso Fire Department. These trucks were part of a series of apparatus ordered by the El Paso Fire Department in 1947. All of the trucks in this series were identical. Used in parades, not used in fire suppression. Housed at the Canutillo Station Members *All members are unpaid volunteers, including chief officers *Members receive equipment and training at no personal cost *Members are enrolled in a life insurance/retirement fund at no personal cost *Members are required to respond to 10% of the call load each month, currently the monthly call load is around 100. *Members are required to attend a minimum of 50% of the training. Currently 4 to 6 times a month. *Members are required to attend an assigned shift each month. Currently a shift has 2 Firefighters on shift at the Vinton Station each night from 9:00 pm to 6:00 am. The WVFD is a Certified Texas Commission on Fire Protection Training Facility The department trains and certifies the following courses: *Driver/Operator-Pumper *Fire Instructor 1 *Fire Instructor II *Fire Instructor III *Fire Officer I *Fire Officer II *Structural Fire Suppression Statistics for Calls of Service (2002 thru 2006) Break down of the total number of calls for service. *2002 Total: 872 (EMS 538, Fire 102, Other 232) *2003 Total: 1023 (EMS 691, Fire 96, Other 111) *2004 Total: 1145 (EMS 781, Fire 131, Other 234) *2005 Total: 1048 (EMS 731, Fire 119, Other 198) *2006 Total: 1321 (EMS 983, Fire 138, Other 200) Annual Events The WVFD participates in the following annual events: *KLAQ Balloon Fest *Canutillo High School Bonfire *Fire Prevention Week with Sparky the Fire Dog *The Anthony, Texas 4th of July and Christmas parades Industrial Styrofoam Facility Fire On April 19, 2005 the WVFD responded to an industrial structure fire at the Star Foam Company in Anthony, Texas. The warehoused Styrofoam was flammable and the resulting size of the fire resulted in 12 fire companies from both Dona Ana County, New Mexico and El Paso County, Texas taking roughly two hours to contain the fire. No injuries were reported and the fire did not spread beyond the facility to the neighboring businesses. The black smoke could be seen as far as Las Cruces, New Mexico. No one was injured in the blaze See Also *firefighter *volunteer fire department *El Paso County, Texas See Also
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