LCRA, Pedernales Electric Cooperative award $23,169 grant to Johnson City Volunteer Fire Department


LCRA and Pedernales Electric Cooperative representatives present a $23,169 grant to the Johnson City Volunteer Fire Department to buy 20 new handheld radios. The grant is part of LCRA’s Community Development Partnership Program. Pictured, from left to right, are: Steve Dyer, LCRA governmental affairs representative; Clint Harp, LCRA chief of staff; James Dildine, Johnson City VFD president; Mike Guthrie, VFD captain; Sheri Holmes, VFD secretary; Craig Thetford, VFD firefighter; George W. Russell, LCRA Board member; Roy Burdett, VFD chief; Tessa Schmidtzinsky, PEC representative; Rick Arnic, LCRA governmental affairs representative; and Lori A. Berger, LCRA Board member.

The Johnson City Volunteer Fire Department will buy 20 new handheld, two-way radios with a $23,169 community development grant from the Lower Colorado River Authority and Pedernales Electric Cooperative.

Johnson City Volunteer Fire Department Fire Chief Roy Burdett said the department has long needed the radios, but their price put them out of reach.​​

“We just didn’t have money for the new communication systems the federal government requires emergency responders to have,” Burdett said. “Outfitting our 35 volunteer firefighters with new radios was going to be devastating to our budget. So we would purchase one or two new radios at a time, but now this grant will allow 100 percent of our responders to communicate with each other by radio.”

The Fire Department’s service area encompasses 425 square miles with a population of nearly 8,400 people. It includes the Johnson City Independent School District, several communities, Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park, Pedernales Falls State Park, several major highways, and some of the most popular hunting and scenic areas in Texas.

“Using the old radios was like having one arm tied behind our back, and it was starting to affect our service because we couldn’t communicate the status of a call with responders who were on their way to assist, so we couldn’t tell them if they needed to hurry or if they could just drive the speed limit,” Burdett said. “Our second and third trucks were going out blind unless we talked by phone, which isn’t safe and still leaves you unable to communicate with more than one person at a time.”

Burdett said the communication problems affected volunteers personally.

“We started losing some of our volunteers because they were getting left out of the loop due to poor radio communication,” Burdett said. “They would hear sirens and have no idea why. It was very frustrating, and we are fortunate nothing bad happened as a result. This grant has taken a huge stress off of us.”

The community grant is one of a number of grants recently awarded through LCRA’s Community Development Partnership Program. The program provides economic development and community assistance grants to cities, counties, volunteer fire departments, regional development councils and other nonprofit organizations in LCRA’s electric and water service areas. The program is part of LCRA’s effort to give back to the communities it serves. Pedernales Electric Cooperative is one of LCRA’s wholesale electric customers and a partner in the grant program.

Applications for the next round of grants are due Jan. 31. More information is available at lcra.org/cdpp.

About LCRA

The Lower Colorado River Authority serves customers and communities throughout Texas by managing the lower Colorado River; generating and transmitting electric power; ensuring a clean, reliable water supply; and offering access to nature at more than 40​ parks, recreation areas and river access sites along the Texas Colorado River, from the Hill Country to the Gulf Coast. LCRA and its employees are committed to enhancing the lives of Texans through water stewardship, energy and community services. LCRA was created by the Texas Legislature in 1934. For more information, visit
lcra.org.

Media Contact
Clara Tuma
512–578–3292
clara.tuma@lcra.org



Source: LCRA Business News

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