The Tierra Linda Fire Department is a 100% voluntary organization. No wages are paid nor are there any administrative costs. All funds we receive are used exclusively for providing emergency services to our customers.

Gillespie County, where we reside, provides $11,500 via a contract that is renewed annually. Neighboring Kerr County provides $2,000 annually for our services along the highway 783 corridor between the county line and I-10. These county funds are important to us and are appreciated.  They do help defray a portion of our operating and maintenance costs. We also pursue grants for equipment when they are available.

All other funding for our operations and survival comes from voluntary contributions from our customers and nearby businesses.

The Tierra Linda Fire Department's primary fire district (approximately 50 square miles) is located in southwest Gillespie County and is confined to Gillespie County. However, we do have a contract with Kerr County to provide emergency services as a simultaneous responder with the Kerrville Fire Department along  highway 783  between the county line and I-10. We also participate in automatic and mutual aid agreements, which frequently result in our operating with other departments at a significant distance from our district.

We are called the Tierra Linda Volunteer Fire Department and our station is physically located on the Tierra Linda Ranch on land leased from the ranch. However, we are independent and not part of the ranch homeowners' association. The fire district extends considerably beyond the ranch boundaries and is over four times the land area that makes up the ranch.

Our mission is to be a fire control organization with the additional service of emergency medical assistance.  We have emergency medical equipment available for our EMT’s and ECA’s use when called upon.  However, as is the nature of all emergency service organizations, we participate in a variety of public service activities. We are frequently called upon to assist DPS, EMS, and County Sheriffs (both Kerr and Gillespie Counties) with motor vehicle accidents. Our usual role at accidents is traffic and fire control, but we can be called upon for victim assistance and sometimes with cleanup.

In addition, we often respond to assist EMS with non-vehicular accidents and other medical emergencies. This usually involves emergency service prior to the arrival of EMS as well as the hand transportation of victims over relatively long distances and/or guiding EMS crews into and out of areas they are not familiar with. We sometimes locate helicopter-landing zones for evacuation of victims while EMS is attending and transporting a victim to the landing site. The Tierra Linda Airport is the preferred landing zone in most cases, but we are prepared to make arrangements at more remote sites.

We participate fully in the mutual aid concept. Although our protection boundaries are well defined, they mean little or nothing when other emergency service organizations call for assistance. We have responded to calls to nearly all adjacent departments and have been dispatched as far away as the Medina and Mason areas. We need to respond to all dispatches regardless of the type or location of the incident. We can also expect assistance from surrounding departments whenever we so request.

We also participate with Gillespie County in an "Automatic Aid Concept". This concept results in our being automatically dispatched to portions of the Harper and Fredericksburg fire districts that are immediately adjacent to our district. This aid concept expands our immediate dispatch area to about twice that contained within our boundary.

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Last update: 04/14/2008