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Texas firefighters breakaway to start new dept. amidst allegations

Claims of forgery and ill-will have started as the firefighters try to establish their own department

By James Draper
Kilgore News Herald

SABINE, Texas — Back in the 1700s, Ben Franklin’s Bucket Brigade was slinging as much mud as water at one point: a group of the country’s first volunteer firefighters split from the original organization to form their own outfit, complementary but competing.

Hundreds of years later, a group of former Sabine volunteer firefighters is hanging out their shingle, aiming to increase Liberty City’s fire coverage on their own terms. C.W. Crutcher and a five-man crew founding Liberty City Fire & Rescue say they’ve long-since parted ways with the Sabine Volunteer Fire Department for a number of reasons.

“We felt the need for something better in our community,” said Crutcher, chief of the proposed paid department.

Full story: Dueling fire departments scrap over Sabine