History of Greenwood Rural Volunteer Fire Department
In 2006, the firefighters of Greenwood Rural VFD celebrated the 40th anniversary of the department’s founding. Prior to 1966, the Weatherford Fire Department provided fire and rescue service to the citizens of Greenwood and surrounding area. For this service, Parker County Precinct-3 paid a nominal fee to the city of Weatherford. In late 1965, the city of Weatherford proposed a significant increase for this service to $10,000 annually. Precinct 3’s Commissioner, at the time, thought that the increase was not justified and decided to evaluate whether the citizens of the area would be interested in forming a volunteer fire department to avoid the service fee altogether.
So early in 1966, at the urging of the Commissioner, the initial meeting of potential firefighters was held. In attendance were: DL Engel, SL Moss, Herbert Walker, Terry Young, Gene Light, Dale Romer, JW Young, Harvey Light, Fred Tucker, and Kenneth Young. The decision was made to proceed and the adventurous band of firefighters, none of which had any experience, set forth on a mission that has lasted over forty years. They elected officers and the first chief of the Greenwood Volunteer Fire department was Kenneth Young. Kenneth’s legacy continues today. His son, JW Young, celebrated his 40th anniversary with the department in 2006. Kenneth’s grandson, John Young, is also an active member of the department.
Parker County Precinct-3 gave the group a few hundred dollars to get started and they used the money to buy five government surplus trucks from the Carswell Air Force Base. At that point they had no fire station in which to house the equipment so they convinced a local businessman, to let them house the trucks at his service station near the corner of Jones Road and Ranger highway.
The newly formed department then focused its energies on two tasks….training the recruits on the science of firefighting and transforming the surplus trucks into fire fighting vehicles.
This picture shows the first fire truck owned by Greenwood VFD and the Firefighters in the picture are Kenneth Young and an unidentified department member.
The Greenwood Department has come a long way since 1966. During the intervening years, the Greenwood Fire Department has been involved in hundreds of fires and has saved much property and probably a few lives as well. Today the department is a thriving organization with about thirty members and twenty five firefighters. The following chart shows the kinds of incidents that the department has handled over the last several years:
| Type of Emergency |
1999 |
2000 |
2001 |
2002 |
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
| Structure Fire |
10 |
7 |
13 |
20 |
29 |
38 |
36 |
28 |
33 |
| Vehicle Fire |
3 |
7 |
7 |
9 |
11 |
9 |
6 |
8 |
12 |
| Ground Cover Fire |
44 |
61 |
48 |
37 |
55 |
45 |
119 |
98 |
63 |
| Motor Vehicle |
18 |
18 |
20 |
21 |
25 |
44 |
46 |
34 |
51 |
| Rescue |
8 |
6 |
12 |
7 |
15 |
13 |
22 |
9 |
9 |
| Emergency Medical |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
14 |
56 |
| Other |
8 |
6 |
11 |
14 |
18 |
27 |
0 |
37 |
26 |
| Annual Totals |
91 |
105 |
111 |
108 |
153 |
176 |
229 |
228 |
250 |
The growing number of structure fires and total calls is an indication of the growth of the Greenwood area. Parker County is one of the fastest growing Counties in Texas and our district has shared in that growth. Currently we have about 25 firefighters and a small group of auxiliary members who provide support for the department. We have an aggressive training program aimed at certifying all department members within their first three years of membership.
The department has been very fortunate in winning grants the past few years and has acquired many new pieces of firefighting equipment, among them:
- A 2003 F-550 Brush Truck from the Texas Forest Service (TFS)
- New bunker gear in a series of grants from FEMA, TFS and the Texas Commission on Fire Protection (TCFP)
- An Air Compressor and permanent Cascade System from FEMA
- A Thermal Imaging Camera from FEMA
- A new Rescue Tool (Jaws of Life) from TFS
- Updated inventory of Attack hose and Supply Line
- A Cascade /Salvage & Overhaul Trailer from TCFP and the First Responder Institute
- Salvage and Overhaul tools from TCFP
- A 2005 E-One Pumper which was granted by FEMA’s Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program
- A 2006 Dodge 2500 Squad which was acquired when the department began running Emergency Medical Calls in 2006
- Technical Rescue equipment which was part of a 2007 FEMA Assistance to Firefighters Grant.
Our station was built by hand by the members in 1972. It was insulated in the 1990s. Also in the early 1990s a third bay was added. In 2001 a fourth bay was added and in 2004-5 the station was doubled in size and a kitchen/day area and bath were added. Below is a picture of the Greenwood Station in the late 1990’s shortly before the fourth bay was added.