The Crowell Volunteer Fire Department is located in Crowell, Texas. Crowell, a town with a population of 1,230 people, is located near the Texas Panhandle. Crowell is three hours southeast of Amarillo, Texas, two hours and thirty minutes east of Lubbock, Texas, one hour and thirty minutes west of Wichita Falls, Texas and approximately four hours west of Dallas, Texas. The Crowell Volunteer Fire Department serves Crowell and Foard County. The total population of Foard County is near 1,600 people.
The geography of Foard County ranges from miles and miles of level farmland in the eastern part to rough broken land in the western part. During a good year, Foard County receives about 22 inches of rain. This makes Foard county a very high risk candidate for wildfires. On a hot, dry day with low humidity, a fire can burn off several hundred acres before the fire department can arrive.
Because the Crowell Volunteer Fire Department serves an area of almost 700 square miles, it can sometimes take 30-45 minutes to get to a fire. The volunteer factor can even lower the response time to a fire because it takes time for volunteer firemen to travel from their jobsite or their home after receiving the emergency call. However, the fire department has a very rapid response time to all fires.
It is the volunteer spirit that makes the fire department unique. Many of these men and women sacrifice their jobs and their families to protect others from the dangers of fire. Perfectly knowing the entire time of fighting the fire, they will receive no monetary compensation for their services. However, the pay is received by knowing they have provided services and helped to protect lives and save valuable assets.
Next time you see a Crowell Volunteer Fireman, express your thanks to them for the free services they provide the town, the community and the county. For you never know. . . sometime late at night or early in the morning you may have an emergency. And it will be those volunteers, sleeping by their firemen's radio, who jump out of their own warm bed, hurry to get dressed and rush to the fire station to help you out in your time of need.
