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Thursday, October 30, 1997

Forest service office in treeless West Texas

By SCOTT STANFORD / San Angelo Standard-Times

BARNHART, Texas -- When the Legislature voted last summer to give the Texas Forest Service funding to set up regional fire offices around the state, Irion County Judge Sid Mabry knew the perfect place for a West Texas office.

For nearly a decade, Mabry tried without success to get the state to make use of its abandoned Texas Department of Transportation facility on U.S. Highway 67 in Barnhart. But with the Forest Service for a regional office site, the former TxDOT building was too good a deal to pass up.

"We thought it would be great to have one of the regional offices out here in West Texas, and we went and talked to (state Reps.) Rob Junell and Bob Turner," Mabry said. "They thought the use of an existing state facility was a good way to save the state some money."

About $10,000 worth of renovations later, the TxDOT office is now the Forest Service's West Texas Regional Office. And last week, the service hired its first regional fire coordinator -- former San Angelo assistant fire chief Ron Perry -- to head the Barnhart office.

For Barnhart -- a community 52 miles southwest of San Angelo -- the opening of a forest service office qualifies as the most economic development activity the town has seen in some time. For other counties and communities in West Texas, the new regional office will be a boost as well, Mabry said.

"This is going to be great for all of West Texas and its volunteer fire departments," Mabry said. "I approached the county judges around here about it and they're all excited."

The reason the judges are excited is because the opening of the regional office should mean the counties won't have to drive to Lufkin, where the forest service's headquarters is, to pick up needed supplies and equipment.

The forest service currently acquires about 200 trucks per year as well as 800 to 900 other pieces of firefighting equipment that it then redistributes to volunteer fire departments around the state. Most of the equipment comes from military surplus.

In the past, the forest service conducted its equipment program out of Lufkin. Now, the regional offices will be responsible for procuring military salvage equipment and supplies and disbursing them to volunteer fire departments in the area.

"The volunteer departments will tell me what they need and then I'll go find it for them," Perry said. "I'll spend a lot of my time going to military bases and tagging surplus equipment for our use."In addition to pumpers, trucks and generators, the Barnhart office will also be a central storage facility for other donated and excess firefighting gear, including suits, helmets, gloves and hoses.

The Barnhart facility has two bays, office buildings, a garage and a hurricane fence. In addition to Perry, the forest service will hire a part-time employ who will do maintenance on firefighting equipment at the facility.

In addition to acquiring and disbursing equipment, Perry will also conduct regular training, both at the Barnhart site and at other sites throughout West Texas.

"This came along at the right time for me," Perry said. "It's a golden opportunity to help a broader based constituency of firefighters.

"In the past, the volunteer fire departments have been driving all over the state to get courses and equipment. This should make things a lot easier."

In addition to the Barnhart site, the forest service also plans regional offices in Corpus Christi, Canyon, Tyler, Conroe and Austin.