Howe votes to establish full-time fire department

HOWE, Texas (KXII) - At Tuesday’s meeting, the Howe City Council approved an ordinance to create a full-time fire department.

“The biggest change is that we will have a fire department that is paid to be with the city,” Howe City Council member Sarah Myrick said. “Right now we have a great volunteer fire department.”

Howe’s volunteer fire department was established all the way back in 1951, but according to current volunteer Fire Chief Robert Maniet, it’s not going anywhere.

“We’re still going to keep our volunteer division, which is a great asset because we’ve got a ton of people that love to volunteer,” Chief Maniet said.

The ordinance will create a full-time fire chief position, along with a few other full-time positions that are available to respond to emergency calls when needed.

“This is a huge step for us moving forward for the city growth and the growth of the fire department,” Maniet said. “This is going to allow us to have more people here and on staff more often.”

City leaders say becoming a full-time entity is the beginning of much more.

“This is also going to allow us to get our full time EMS up and running,” Maniet said. “That will be running through the city, and that will be a 24/7 ALS (Advanced Life Support) ambulance.”

“It’s one more step towards us being less dependent on outside sources for the vital city services that we provide for citizens,” Myrick said.

Howe Interim City Administrator Monte Walker said that protecting the citizens is always top of mind when making decisions like this.

“A paid fire staff, EMS services, and a paid fire chief is going to be huge for our citizens,” Walker said. “Any time we can protect our citizens, that’s a big benefit.”

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