The Central Fire Station and an annex houses the entire 17-member Marfa Volunteer Fire Department across from the Presidio County Courthouse.
On 15 Jun 2016, the department was featured in two articles that appeared in Big Bend Now, the online combined edition of the Marfa Sentinal-News and the Presidio International newspaper: (1) (
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"Fire department receives limited funding
July 16th, 2015
By SARAH M. VASQUEZ
MARFA – The word “volunteer” in the Marfa Volunteer Fire Department’s (MVFD) is just that, 17 volunteer firefighters, including Chief Gary Mitschke and Assistant Chief Gilbert Lujan.
Mitschke receives some compensation for being the Presidio County Emergency Management Coordinator and fire marshal, but the fire department runs solely on donations and the limited funds it receives from Presidio County and the city of Marfa.
The department became incorporated in the mid-1990s, meaning it is a separate entity managed by its members and board of directors. That status also helps to secure grants. The department is not technically owned by the county or the city, however they serve both political subdivisions.
Mitschke said the department makes do with about $35,000 each year, which helps fund training, fuel and equipment. The county’s budget funds the Marfa and Presidio fire departments with amounts that vary from year to year. This year’s budget for MVFD is $15,000 that goes toward operating expenses, but it doesn’t cover everything.
“Sometimes it doesn’t pay fuel on a busy year,” said Mitschke.
The city of Marfa budgeted $20,000 for MVFD’s operating expenses this year, according to City Administrator Jim Mustard, and that funding comes from residents’ donations through the city’s utility bill. Two items on the bill include EMS/Fire Department listed for $5 and an additional $2.50. Marfa EMS receives $5 and the MVFD receives $2.50.
The thing is that these donations are completely voluntary, and according to those at Marfa City Hall, many residents, both longtime and new, have opted out of paying it.
“It has gone down every year since I’ve been here,” said Mustard.
However, City of Marfa Utility Clerk Lori Flores said some residents do decide to make a yearly donation instead.
The city also budgeted an additional $20,000 for improvements to the firehouse, which is owned by the city, and also sponsors the firefighters with a retirement program through the state.
The city used to provide free water service to the firefighters for compensation before 2009, but it only applied to those who live within the city limits. The city had to stop the program as it interfered with grant funding, but Mitschke feels the retirement program is more equitable for everybody in the department.
Other ways the MVFD has received funds is through fundraisers thrown by local organizations or themselves. Due to the time constraints between the 17 volunteers, the department hasn’t held one in awhile.
Mitschke said the budget and staffing situation is typical for small volunteer fire departments and thinks Marfa is better off than a lot of them. It’s still difficult to handle though.
“We have to do the same things that the big cities do essentially with a whole lot less personnel and support people,” said Mitschke. “It’s a challenge. It’s a big challenge.”"
and (2) (
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"Sacrificing their lives for Marfa’s safety
July 16th, 2015
By SARAH M. VASQUEZ
MARFA – First responders play a crucial role in every town’s safety. Residents call them when there’s an emergency. In Far West Texas, situations such as the Rock House fire that destroyed 351,000 acres from Marfa to Fort Davis in 2011 to the Marfa Villa Apartments fire that displaced 12 low-income families in May, can change someone’s situation in the blink of an eye. But the EMS and fire department are always there.
“Every time that pager goes off, it’s a life threatening situation,” said Marfa Volunteer Fire Department (MVFD) Fire Chief and Presidio County Emergency Management Coordinator Gary Mitschke. “Just responding is a life threatening situation for volunteers trying to get to the station, get in the vehicles, and get to the location.”
Mitschke currently oversees the MVFD with 17 firefighters who are strictly volunteers.
The City of Marfa established the MVFD in early 1900s. According to a 1938 article in the Big Bend Sentinel, many of the department records were lost or misplaced, so most of the department’s history is based on memory, but it was founded in 1905 with 10 men. Walter Wilcox was the first fire chief.
Mitschke said running the department is like having 17 employees who don’t get paid, but still need to keep up with training and help with equipment maintenance and paperwork.
“It’s like running a business without full-time employees and on a very, very limited budget,” Mitschke.
One volunteer, Charlie Ortiz, dedicates his time to the department when he’s not at his employment at Aerostat to work on the fire trucks and equipment.
“Anything that needs to be done, I do,” said Ortiz.
He works one week at Aerostat and then gets a week off. Weekends are his days to spend with his wife Karina Ortiz and twin sons, William and Ruben.
Some of the volunteers like Ortiz have been with the department for many years. Mitschke joined 20 years ago with no intention of becoming chief, which he has been for 10 years. Ortiz joined over 20 years ago as a way to give back to the community.
Department Lieutenant John Johnson has been a firefighter for 45 years, 34 of those in New Jersey. His father, Bob Johnson, is a former Marfa fire chief.
Augstin Gonzalez has been a firefighter for 20 years, starting as a junior firefighter when he was a teenager. Junior firefighters can join the department when they are 16 years old with parental consent.
Upcoming Marfa High School senior Juan Fabela is one of the newest firefighters, joining five months ago as a junior firefighter, but is a full-time volunteer now that he’s 18 years old.
These firefighters, along with Assistant Chief Gilbert Lujan, Brenda Cano, Genie Gonzales, Ricardo Campos, Allan McClane, Paul VanTine, Rene Gonzales, Rachel Monroe, Jonathan Wyckoff, Dustin Heath, Ed Jennings, Michael Roch, and Daniel Hernandez, also rush to scene whenever there’s a fire in Marfa if they’re available.
Balancing the many hats
The thing about working with volunteers is that everyone has to work with each other’s schedules, so not everyone attends the weekly meetings or an emergency call. As volunteers, all of them have additional responsibilities such as full-time jobs and families.
“Very seldom do we get everybody in the department showing up, so that’s another challenge,” said Mitschke. “When you have something going on, you don’t know what you’re going to have to work with.”
Hernandez balances firefighting duties with his position in constituent services with state Senator Jose Rodriguez and being a Sul Ross State University student. He was previously the part-time band director at Marfa ISD.
“It really depends on what I’m doing at the time and what I have to do for the rest of the day. I really have to make a split second decision,” said Hernandez. “My work at the senator’s office, they’re very gracious in allowing me to respond to calls if there’s one in town and I’m at work and I don’t have anything very pressing for them.”
The same goes for Roch, who is the education coordinator at the Chinati Foundation. He also has a teenage son with his wife, Sterry Butcher.
“It’s never been an issue. I am fortunate that my employers see the firefighters as a necessity and a benefit to the community, and subsequently, they’re very supportive of my participation,” said Roch.
Usually the officers try to coordinate with each other if someone needs to leave town. That was the case with the Marfa Villa Apartments fire as Mitschke was on vacation when he received the call from Mayor Dan Dunlap. Lujan was designated in charge, but Mitschke could make calls and give advice. He assisted in arranging a state fire marshal to come to Marfa from Midland.
MVFD bylaws require 34 members, including a chief and assistant chief, and there was a time when the department exceeded the amount that there was a six-month waiting list to join. That has not been the case recently. Mitschke said they will work with anybody who would like to join, but feels interested volunteers should be mentally ready rather than physically ready to deal with the stress of being a firefighter.
“Even though we need volunteers, we’re kind of like the Marines. We need good volunteers, men or women,” said Mitschke.
Jonathan Wyckoff washes a fire truck in front of the firehouse.
Jonathan Wyckoff washes a fire truck in front of the firehouse.
New volunteers are placed on a six-month probation period when they join, and while the job doesn’t pay, the firefighters are on call 24 hours and must meet the state training requirements. Some attend yearly training at Texas A&M in College Station, which is partially funded through a Texas Forest Service grant.
The department has four meetings each month, typically at 6:30pm on Mondays, where they try to squeeze in more training or equipment maintenance during those few hours.
Helping Marfa one fire at a time
The type of calls MVFD responds to most are wild land fires, which can be triggered by a loose power line, a welder’s spark, or as simple as a cigarette thrown from a vehicle. Last month, they took a call at the Petan Ranch where it took Mitschke an hour to arrive at the scene.
“A lot happens to wild fire in a hour’s time. Very seldom do we get the luxury for a quick attack,” said Mitschke. “Usually the first minutes of a fire, if you can be there quickly, you can contain it.”
Other calls dealt by MVFD are automobile accidents and structure fires. Mitschke said there are different tactics for the different types of fire, but that’s when the training comes in.
“Sometimes you do the training, you don’t realize that you retained it until you actually have to use it and then it almost becomes instinctual,” said Hernandez.
Working on fires and accidents in a small town where everybody knows everybody, said Mitschke, can be hard to disassociate the fact they are helping their neighbors from those situations, but they are there to do a job. For those tough moments, the firefighters can receive emotional assistance from MVFD Chaplain Ed Jennings, a Baptist minister.
“It’s a very high stress mode for everything that we do in this fire department, so the city and county ought to thank their lucky stars they have a few people who are willing to do this, because it’s not easy,” said Mitschke.
What keeps these firefighters going is knowing they are helping the Marfa community, sometimes the surrounding towns, like the Fort Davis Volunteer Fire Department did during the Marfa Villa Apartments fire.
“It’s all about showing up and putting forth the effort,” said Roch. “It’s about people collectively coming together and working toward a common goal. Certainly firefighting deals with the idea of saving properties, saving lives, and that’s an incredible motivation, I think more so than others, but it is one of the many valuable ways any of us can spend time in our communities.”
For Cano, being a firefighter keeps her out of trouble, she said. When she lived in Roswell, New Mexico, she got involved with drugs in her early 20s. Years later, she quit and had her youngest daughter, who is now six years old, and decided to move to Marfa in 2010 with the help of her mom.
“Coming up here and doing all this has been a big change in my life,” said Cano.
When she first joined the department, Cano said VanTine told her that the firefighters are like her family now.
“It’s a brotherhood/sisterhood,” said Cano.
That’s why Ortiz dedicates his time helping the department any way he can, because what keeps him around is being with the firefighters.
“If they get in trouble, I’m here for them and I know they’re here for me too, so we’re just one big family,” said Ortiz."