College Mound Fire Department

Just a friendly reminder FEMA will be closing the Disaster Recovery Center at Nash Elementary in Kaufman on July 16, 2024.

We want to give a huge shoutout to Kaufman County Mud Bog for taking the time to organize a water drive and dropping off water donations. Your time and effforts are greatly appreciated.

Keeping our team safe and hydrated is very important to us especially with grass fire season upon us.

Thank you 🙂

Thank you to everyone that joined us for the races yesterday and for helping us with the water drive! We delivered the water today to College Mound Volunteer Fire Department!

Beryl ended up shifting further east today but looks like our area may still recieve potentially over 4" of rain 🌧 which we all need.
Continue to stay alert and aware and just remember to "Turn around and Don't drown" if a road is flooded.

Happy Sunday!

⛈️ Kaufman County is included on the list ⛈️

East Texas counties added to Hurricane Beryl Disaster Declaration Texans are urged to prepare as storm forecasts have shifted the expected landfall north and east of previous projections.

Kaufman County is under a Excessive Heat Warning ⚠️ until 7pm Saturday.

Please remember to:
- wear sunscreen 😎
- hydrate 💧
- take breaks
- and stay cool

All these help minimize the risk of Dehydration, Heat Exhaustion, and Heat Stroke .

Stay safe everyone.

🚨 IMPORTANT INFORMATION, PLEASE SHARE:

FEMA is opening Disaster Recovery Centers in Kaufman, Leon and Van Zandt counties June 21 to provide one-on-one help to Texans affected by the severe storms, tornadoes, flooding and straight-line winds April 26-June 5.

** DEADLINE TO APPLY: JULY 16 **

The centers are located at:

📍Kaufman County
Nash Elementary School
1002 S. Houston St.
Kaufman, TX 75142

📍Leon County
Leon County Annex
155 North Cass St.
Centerville, TX 75833

📍Van Zandt County
Canton Intermediate School
1190 W. Hwy 243
Canton, TX 75103

⏰All centers will operate from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day until July 16th.

You do not have to visit a Disaster Recovery Center to apply for FEMA assistance you can apply online: disasterassistance.gov/

Find a location near you: fema.gov/DRC

▶️ fema.gov/press-release/20240620/disaster-recovery-centers-open-kaufman-leon-van-zandt-counties

⚠️ Kaufman is under a Heat advisory warning until 7 PM Tuesday.

For those mowing your lawns, working outside, and burning brush we encourage you to stay hydrated, take breaks, and stay cool.

Stay Safe Everyone.

Join us today, ladies and gentlemen we need you. Let's go.

Kaufman County has been approved and included in the Federal Disaster Declaration for Individual Assistance (IA). Due to the recent storms, residents and homeowners can now apply for FEMA assistance. Public Assistance (PA) is still pending approval.

If you or a loved one needs assistance, please apply online through the FEMA website using the link provided below. Once on the page, click "Let's get started" and complete the necessary information.

*** we did notice a deadline section for applications related to Texas as July 16. We are unsure if this is related to FEMA application but please submit as soon as possible. Please share with your friends, family, and neighbors. Thank you.

https://www.disasterassistance.gov/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0NHjfmBdBjdeElLvJ05DyRcyG-3EQZ7q4SVPweTQcYMVVjBTgzHFEUe4E_aem_ZmFrZWR1bW15MTZieXRlcw

Home | disasterassistance.gov You can find more information on the Coronavirus (COVID-19) page and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website.

The American Red Cross will be at our sister station Kaufman Volunteer Fire Department
from Thursday, June 6, through Saturday, June 8. They will have water, snacks and supplies for residents affected by recent severe weather.

HOURS
Thursday and Friday: 12 p.m. - 8 p.m.
Saturday: 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.

7819 FM1388 · 7819 FM1388, Kaufman, TX 75142 Building

It is still unclear if the storm cluster will extend to our area but stay weather aware as it continues to move South East.

June 4th, 2:30 AM—A cluster of strong to severe storms is near Pauls Valley to Seminole, Oklahoma. These storms are moving southeast at 25-30 MPH and will approach the Red River and Northeast Texas by 5-6 AM. Localized damaging winds and heavy rainfall are expected as they move into Texas this morning. We'll see how far west the cluster organizes in several hours, and that'll determine if this is an issue for D/FW—or areas farther east—in several hours. ~David

At 6:41am your College Mound firefighters were dispatched to a water rescue call on County Road 125. A passerby had spotted a car stalled in the water. It was unknown if the vehicle was occupied.

Immediate mutual aid was requested from Elmo Volunteer Fire Department. They were directed to come into the scene from the other side and set up for rescue operations.

On arrival it was obvious the water was deep and fast moving. Another mutual aid call was made requesting the swift water rescue team from Seagoville Fire Department.

As the rescue team responded College Mound firefighters launched a drone. The camera view appeared the car was not occupied. Still with any search and rescue until a firefighter can look into the vehicle it's assumed someone might be inside. There was also a concern the driver might have been swept away.

Deputies with Kaufman Sheriff's Department responded to the home where the car was registered and learned the driver was safe.

I this case the outcome was a lot better than it could have been. However there are several key things to be learned. First turn around, don't drown. The ground is saturated and creeks are full. A quick shower can rapidly produce a life threatening situation.

If you're involved in an incident such as this and make it to safety please call the sheriff's department or local police. This search took a lot of manpower and while crews are committed they're not available to respond to other potentially life threatening emergencies.

Also you may notice we wrapped the car in yellow tape. This is common for both fire and law enforcement. It's a mark the vehicle has been checked. It you see a car off the road or badly damaged but it's been taped please don't call 911. A call means once again crews are pulled from service to make sure there's not another incident.

We're expecting more rain in the next few hours. Take this time to prepare. As always we stand ready to respond.

Do Not Attempt To Operate Power Line Equipment

Along with the long outages that have come with this storm damage comes the temptation for some individuals to attempt to restore power on their own. This is incredibly dangerous and poses a huge risk to our line crews at work and for the safety of the general public.

TVEC crews are in constant communication with system operators with rigorous protocols to ensure that power is only restored when it is safe to do so. Attempting to circumvent this system can result in death, property damage and potential criminal liability for the perpetrator. Individuals caught jeopardizing TVEC line safety will be prosecuted.

Do not take the risk to your own safety and the safety of others.

https://www.tvec.net/do-not-attempt-to-operate-power-line-equipment/

Neighbors Helping Neighbors

What a Day it was yesterday!!! Our community has suffered a blow from Mother Nature for sure, however it could have been much worse. As the storm came and went your fire department was answering a steady influx of calls. Many volunteers left their homes, some using their personal chain saws to make a path to get to the fire station. We encountered roads blocked and power lines down.

As I traveled our response area one thing stood out and that was the love for the fellow neighbor. People with tractors, skid steers, chainsaws and other equipment came to help. I received numerous phone calls from farmers, ranchers and private businesss with heavy equipment offering their help. College Mound Special Utility District members assisted by the public worked together to clear roads allowing emergency crews access to the hardest hit areas.

Although many old beautiful trees were lost and property destroyed we were blessed there were no significant injuries or deaths associated with this violent storm.

As we all move forward to recover from this, be safe, love thy neighbor, and be patient.

TVEC crews are working tirelessly to restore power. As they do their work some of the downed power lines may become energized. Treat all downed lines as live.

As always your College Mound firefighters stand ready to help.

Chief JL Phillips

May 29 - We've started a new post for the day's updates, it will be pinned to our FB Page, and is also available at tvec.net/outage-center

9 p.m. - TVEC crews have made progress in restoring several large sections of line, but much work remains to be done. While some power will be restored overnight, we expect major progress as we are joined by dozens of contractor crews and crews from other co-ops who are coming to our aid.

Overnight, crews will be working, both restoring power and assessing damage in some areas that have not been checked yet.

We still expect some restoration work to extend into Thursday and possibly even Friday.

The TVEC phone center will close at midnight to allow our member service representatives to rest. We will open the phones again at 6 a.m.

Please be very careful in the damages areas. Power lines may be energized, even on the ground
5:15 p.m. - This evening finds us still above 26,000 members without power. Again, we do expect this to be a multi-day outage event. Please be prepared for a long outage and make all necessary arrangements for medical needs, pets and people.

It is not possible to predict restoration times for any particular location at this point. Crews and contractors will be working through the night and continuously to restore power as quickly as possible.

We will update again later this evening regarding our phone center hours and further restoration updates.

*Clarification regarding for the last update.. Unfortunately there is not a way to give reliably accurate restoration times at this time. Our crews must work from the large circuit-level outages outward. Once the circuits are back on, many smaller outages may remain in the same overall area. The nature of this type of storm damage means two neighboring streets may have very different restoration times.

Each individual outage may be as simple as a fuse replacement or as complicated as a transformer replacement or tree removal. Ultimately we must advise to plan for the worst.

2 p.m. - Restoration work continues, but still more than 29,0000 members remain without power and more than 500 separate outages. Please note that some outages will likely not be restored until Thursday or Friday. Please be prepared for a long outage and make all necessary arrangements for medical needs, pets and people.

If you are working to clear trees and clean up, please do not approach downed power lines or trees that may be in contact with lines.

Generator users, do not attempt to attach house circuits to your generator. Power can flow back to the lines and pose a serious hazard to our lineworkers and members of the public.

11 a.m. - Crews have restored power to more than 10,000 members so far this morning, but the widespread nature of this event there are still more than 32,000 members without power. Additional crews, contractors and tree trimmers are responding as well to help with restoration and clearing access to downed lines.
The restoration process begins at our substations and crews work out repairing damage and restoring power in sections as lines are inspected and known to be safe. We expect some of these outages to be long duration events. Crews will add time estimates in our outage map when they are able, but please note that restoring a large outage may leave smaller outages that require additional restoration work.

Update 8:45 a.m. - Massive outages now cover our entire TVEC service area. Crews will be working to restore power as quickly and safely as possible. Please know this will take time as they will be navigating downed power lines, fallen trees and an abundance of tree limbs and debris.

Please stay away from downed power lines.
Report outages at 800-967-9324 in SmartHub or via outage texting.

Severe storms are rolling into the TVEC service area from the northwest this morning and starting to cause outages.
We will monitor and update, and of course crews will be responding as quickly as possible.

Report outages at 800-967-9324, in SmartHub or via outage texting.

Please be safe and never approach downed power lines. They can be hard to spot in storm damaged areas!

Please use extreme caution when walking and/or when attempting to cut down trees. There are a lot of power lines down, trees are down blocking different roads, and debris in different areas. We are doing the best we can and the appropriate departments are aware as well. Please be safe .

Tornado Warning
Beginning: 2024-05-28T11:01:00
Ending: 2024-05-28T11:30:00
New Alert
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN FORT WORTH HAS ISSUED A
* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
SOUTHERN ROCKWALL COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS... NORTHWESTERN KAUFMAN COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS... EASTERN DALLAS COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS...
* UNTIL 630 AM CDT.
* AT 601 AM CDT, A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO WAS LOCATED NEAR GARLAND, MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 45 MPH.
HAZARD...TORNADO AND HALF DOLLAR SIZE HAIL.
SOURCE...RADAR INDICATED ROTATION.
IMPACT...FLYING DEBRIS WILL BE DANGEROUS TO THOSE CAUGHT WITHOUT SHELTER. MOBILE HOMES WILL BE DAMAGED OR DESTROYED.
DAMAGE TO ROOFS, WINDOWS, AND VEHICLES WILL OCCUR. TREE
DAMAGE IS LIKELY.
* THIS DANGEROUS STORM WILL BE NEAR...
DALLAS, GARLAND, MESQUITE, ROWLETT, AND SUNNYVALE AROUND 605 AM CDT.
BALCH SPRINGS AND FORNEY AROUND 615 AM CDT.
SEAGOVILLE AROUND 620 AM CDT.
CRANDALL AND TALTY AROUND 625 AM CDT.
OTHER LOCATIONS IMPACTED BY THIS TORNADIC THUNDERSTORM INCLUDE HEARTLAND, LAWRENCE, WHITE ROCK LAKE, LAKE RAY HUBBARD, BUCKINGHAM, MCLENDON-CHISHOLM, AND SAND BRANCH.
THIS INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING HIGHWAYS... INTERSTATE 20 BETWEEN MILE MARKERS 478 AND 499. INTERSTATE 30 BETWEEN MILE MARKERS 50 AND 69.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
TAKE COVER NOW! MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF A

STURDY BUILDING. AVOID WINDOWS. IF YOU ARE OUTDOORS, IN A MOBILE HOME, OR IN A VEHICLE, MOVE TO THE CLOSEST SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER AND PROTECT YOURSELF FROM FLYING DEBRIS

Please keep an eye on the weather this evening

A couple isolated severe storms may develop across portions of North and Central TX later this evening. Most locations will not see storms, but those that do could see large hail, damaging wind gusts, and possibly a tornado. Keep the weather in mind if you are outdoors today!

Don't know how we missed this but for those who do not know May 4th is recognized as International Firefighters’ Day.

Being a Volunteer Fire Department we value the time and commitment your fellow firefighters put in to serve this community outside of their normal jobs and families.

We want to do our part and honor all the fallen firefighters who have lost their lives in the line of duty and show appreciation to our fellow firefighters who continue to dedicate their lives to their communities.

Here are a few throwbacks, mind you not all our team is captured in these pictures but we take great pride in each and every member. Whether you served in the past or are currently serving.

Thank you for all that you do. CMFD honors you.

College Mound Fire Department would like to express our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Brenda Van Sickle. Brenda served the department and residents of the College Mound community for many years as our department treasurer. She will be deeply missed.

Brenda Van Sickle - View Obituary & Service Information Share Memories and Support the Family.

Help us wish our very own Chief Josh Phillips a Happy Birthday 🥳 We are very grateful for everything he does for us at the station. Happy Birthday Chief 🎂

On Saturday, November 11th your College Mound Fire Department along with our sister station Elmo Fire Department and members from Sunnyvale Fire Department participated in an all day Live Fire Training event at the Mabank Fire Department Training Field.

We are fortunate to have highly skilled volunteers from both departments who showed up to instruct and made sure we had a safe event.

We ran through six different structure fire response scenarios throughout the day. Rotating command, first engine due and mutual aid assignments. The crews practiced command, fire attack, victim search and rescue, ventilation, and firefighter down drills.

Two KSO dispatchers also came out and donated their Saturday to make our training as realistic as possible. They dispatched the fire departments over the radio just like they would have from their terminals at the EOC. This added another layer of realism for the firefighters. It also let the dispatchers see first hand what is happening in real time on the other end of the radio during a structure fire response.

Thank you to both the instructors and participants who made this training event possible.

Today your College Mound Fire Department participated in a Live Fire Training with multiple fire departments at the Mabank Fire Department Training Field (more pictures to come) 🚒

"To those in uniform serving today and to those who have served in the past, we honor you today and every day"
We especially want to show deep appreciation to our very own CMFD veterans:
Firefighter Jason Carter, Marine
Firefighter Chris Murry, Army

Thank you for your service.

Good morning,
We have a scheduled live fire training with our sister station Elmo Fire Department next Saturday and are in need of hay Bales. If anyone would like to donate some please feel free to send us message to coordinate the drop off at our station. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thank you.