The Los Fresnos Volunteer Fire Department is celebrating its 75th anniversary of serving southern Cameron County and one constant has defined it through the years.

The department is manned by volunteer firefighters. It is, in fact, an all-volunteer force, the only one of its kind in the Rio Grande Valley. The department is unique in another way as well in that it is not part of a city government. The Los Fresnos Fire Department is a non-profit, a 501c3 organization that operates from funding via contracts with the city, county and area communities that need the department’s emergency services.

The department and its 35-member volunteer staff cover 140 square miles while also handling the largest volume of rural county calls of all fire departments in Cameron. The professionalism and commitment of the all-volunteer staff is a point of community pride in Los Fresnos and for it fire chief, Gene Daniels.

“We’re real particular on who we bring in,” said Daniels, who has been with the department for 32 years. “If you come in and qualify, and get the necessary training and want to serve the community, we’ll find a place for you.”

In Mercedes, it’s the same, as Fire Chief Javier Campos Jr., speaks glowingly of how the 10 volunteer firefighters in his city supplement and support the efforts of paid staff. He grew up the son of a volunteer Mercedes firefighter. Campos took charge of the department in 2020 and quickly brought back the volunteer force after it had been disbanded by his predecessor.

“It was a no-brainer to bring them back,” Campos said. “I wanted to bring back that volunteer culture to the department.”

Deep History

The history of volunteer firefighting runs deep in the Valley.

Its most legendary figure may be the late Johnny Economedes, who was Edinburg’s fire chief for years and mentored many young firefighters who went on to lead departments themselves. There was a time in Edinburg, like many Valley cities, when volunteers made up all or the vast majority of a community’s firefighter force. Blaring sirens would go off under water towers and from other city landmarks alerting the volunteers to an emergency.

This was long before the days of cell phones and other forms of more modern technology. Today it’s customized cell phone apps that do the alerting. In Economedes’ day, it was the sirens and schoolchildren seeing the volunteers running into small town fire departments like super heroes as they dashed off to emergencies.

Edinburg, like most RGV communities, grew to the point where full-time and paid staff were in need to man fire departments. In Mercedes, Campos said volunteers once made up 80 percent of the city’s firefighter staff. Now, it’s the other way around, 80/20, paid to volunteers. It’s a testament to the history of volunteer firefighters in the Valley that in some communities they endure as important members of their departments. In Mercedes, Campos felt something was missing when they were no longer there.

“They’re still the backbone of our department,” he said. “They’re there when we need them.”

Heart Of Volunteering

In Los Fresnos, the volunteer firefighters are more than the backbone.

They fill every slot in the fire department. They must earn the proper certifications and go through fire school training in Edinburg and at Texas A&M’s fire training academy in College Station. From there, the volunteers in Los Fresnos receive monthly trainings and updates to stay prepared and qualified. Most of the volunteers in Los Fresnos have full-time jobs in the fire district area that runs from FM 106 to the north and then south to Brownsville’s city limits, with east/west boundaries being from Laguna Vista to Expressway 77/83.

Daniels, the chief, lauds employers who allow the firefighters to leave their jobs as needed when emergencies arise. He called it “a belief in our community service,” and a bedrock in allowing his all-volunteer force to operate and function. Daniels also relishes the fact that the department exists outside of city government while commending local officials for their support of his staff.

“At some paid departments, politics gets in the way,” Daniels said. “We keep that out here in providing emergency services.”

Daniels speaks from a 33,000-square-foot station that nearly five years since its opening still looks new and is four times larger than the former Los Fresnos fire building. 

“We do this because we want to, not because we get paid for it,” the chief said.

Spoken like a true leader keeping a legacy and tradition of community service alive nearly eight decades since volunteers put out their first fire in Los Fresnos.