By Fousia Abdullahi
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
GRAPEVINE, Texas — The Grapevine City Council voted at an April 7 meeting to approve the purchase of a new first-responder squad truck for $325,000.
This will take the Fire Department’s Engine 1 out of service and add the two-person squad unit, which can respond to EMS, fire or other emergency calls until a fire engine or ambulance arrives.
Currently, the Fire Department operates from five stations, with Station 1 being home to Engine 1.
The Grapevine Professional Firefighters Association opposed the decommissioning of Engine 1 and its replacement with the smaller squad. The union said it understood the department responds to numerous EMS calls and sees the need to have an extra ambulance, but it prefers adding personnel instead of reallocating resources.
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One council member, Duff O’Dell, spoke in opposition to the reallocation, saying it was hurting morale. O’Dell later voted with the rest of the council to approve the purchase.
“I’m going to tell you, I have talked to a lot of firefighters in the last month, a lot, and none of them are happy with this program,” O’Dell said. “It’s not just because it’s a scheduling thing, or we’re doing something different, and this is a new thing to try. They fundamentally feel like they will not be doing their job and taking care of our citizens the way they need to be taken care of if we make these changes.”
Mayor William D. Tate said he knows that change is hard, but due to the low number of fires and increase in EMS calls, the city has to provide ambulance services.
Tate also said the continued discourse about the changes is unwarranted and diminishing public trust.
“People need to have credibility that the council is going to protect them and fire, and EMT service. You have to experiment, you have to balance the budget,” Tate said. “We spend more than any other city almost, on fire and police protection already, and we’ll continue to do that.”
Fire Chief Darrell Brown said the changes will not impact public safety. The department, like others across the country, is moving toward having more EMS.
Brown said while the squad truck is not a fire engine, the squad will get the job done with the equipment it has and the two firefighters who will operate it.
“We had seven working fires last year in the city of Grapevine,” Brown said. “That’s been consistent over the last several years of fires being very low, and this is the best thing that we can do to put a fourth ambulance in service for our citizens.”
Brown said the department’s commitment to citizens will not change.
“We’re actually adding more people on duty every day, we’re going to show up differently to their emergencies, that’s what it is,” Brown said.
‘We’re still going to show up whenever they call’
City leaders say they’ve invested in new fire engines, two ladder trucks that are on order, and the purchase of a reserve ambulance.
The department is increasing daily staffing from 26 to 27. It has ordered a new ambulance that will be delivered in May 2027, and a new reserve fire engine at Station 2.
“Seventy-one percent of what we do is EMS and that’s why we’re doing this, because we have a responsibility to our citizens to show up and take care of them,” Brown said. “Our commitment to our citizens has not changed, we’re still going to show up whenever they call.”
Nine people spoke against the changes during the public comments portion of the meeting. Each said they understand the increase in EMS calls and adding a squad is a “compromise,” but more staff needs to be added, not moved around.
One of those was Michael Sims, who previously worked with the fire department for 33 years. Sims said he disagreed with the plan and urged the city to intervene. Sims said he worked from Station 1 for 30 of those years.
“Station 1 is the heart and soul of the Grapevine Fire Department, and a reduction in staff at the busiest fire station in the city is not a good plan,” Sims said.
Leslie Hillhouse , a Grapevine Citizens Fire Academy graduate and supporter of the department for 20 years, said she sympathized with the firefighters.
“It’s been 26 years since we’ve had an increase in personnel in the Grapevine Fire Department,“ Hillhouse said. “I don’t know of any other department in the city that has gone that long with the increased workload that these ladies and gentlemen undergo every day, and yet we haven’t added a single person.”
Hillhouse said she wants the city to keep Engine 1 and make the other necessary changes.
“As this city has grown, as we have grown in revenue, as we have grown in population, and certainly as we have grown businesses, this is not the time to cut back on emergency services,” Hillhouse said.
Allison Domanic said she would like the city to rethink the proposal.
“If this is a matter of dollars and cents, think about how many years the men and women of this department have gone without a raise to keep Engine 1,” Dominic said. “Mandatory overtime has increased, increased mutual aid from neighboring cities, and their cost of replacing highly trained staff has and will continue to increase with this change. Our firefighters have over 3,000 hours of training in the month of March alone.”
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