Bee Attack

LAWN - Jim Ned responded with Lawn and South Taylor EMS to a residence in southern Taylor County for an individual who had been attacked by bees. The swarm was still very active around the home upon our arrival, but STEMS personel had managed to safely secure the individual in the ambulance. Both departments had to utilize foam to control the swarm and attempted to save the family's pets. STEMS transported the individual to an Abilene hospital.

MVC South of Lawn Injures Two

LAWN - Jim Ned was called to assist in a 1 vehicle rollover about 3 miles south of Lawn on Hwy 84 earlier this morning. STEMS transported the two occupants to an Abilene hospital.

JNVFD Tests Mass Notification Software

JNVFD is testing software that will allow us to send dispatch information for all 911 calls to our firefighter's mobile phones, pagers and email within seconds of being toned out by the sheriff's department. The message will be entered into a web based platform and sent immediately to our firefighters in the form of a text message. Each firefighter will be able to custmize which devices and email addresses the message is sent to. Since all of our firefighters carry mobile phones a majority of the time, we hope that utilizing this technology will eventually show to increase the number of responders we have at each call. We also anticipate seeing improved response times by using this software as an adjunct to radio dispatch. More updates to come.

Lightning Strikes House

BUFFALO GAP - Jim Ned responded with Buffalo Gap to a possible structure fire off Bell Plains Road early this morning. The house was struck by lightning in the early morning storms, but no fire was found.

Brush Fire Burns 30 Acres

TUSCOLA - Jim Ned and Buffalo Gap responded to a small grass fire off CR 150 near the overhead bridge today. The fire apparently began along the railroad right-of-way and moved north and east into thick mesquite and cedar. The fire was slow moving but took the better part of the afternoon to fully contain because of the terrain and limited access to the fire.

Controll Burn Results In 20 Acre Grass Fire

Jim Ned responded to a grass fire off FM 614 this afternoon around 3:00pm. The fire burned about 20 acres of grass and thick brush. Lawn and Buffalo Gap provided mutual aid on the call.

Grass Fire Off Maxwell Street Burns 50 Acres

BUFFALO GAP - JNVFD was called for mutual aid to assist BGVFD on a grass fire east of Maxwell Street in Buffalo Gap around 4:00pm Tuesday. The fire apparently started behind some residences on the east side of Maxwell and moved north and east into heavy brush and rough terrain. Crews from Buffalo Gap, Jim Ned, ECCA, View, and Merkel were on scene. Taylor County used their doziers and maintainers to cut fire breaks and provided water support. JNVFD logged in 13 man hours of mutual aid to Buffalo Gap on this fire..

Another Pet Vaccination Clinic in the Books

JNVFD held its 8th annual pet vaccination clinic today at our fire station in Tuscola. We were able to provide 80 rabies vaccinations this year. Special thanks to Dr. Dearing and the Dearing Vet Clinic in Buffalo Gap for sponsoring this event.

Brush 2 Is Back In Service

We have had a great response to our 2009 newsletter so far and we've been able to make some badly needed repairs to Brush 2. It's been out of service since the "Tuscola Fire" on March 5th when the transmission went out. We were able to get a couple of local mechanics to completely rebuild the transmission and clutch. All of our fire trucks are now in service. Thanks to all of those who have helped us with this repair.

Website Redesigned

JNVFD's website has been up and running since this time last year, but was down for about an hour Thursday night while updates where being installed on the server. We have completely redesigned the layout and added new features including our JNVFD News Blog and RSS feeds, a clickable response area map, and updated information about the department. Let us know what you think.

Fire off 83/84 burns 300 acres

TUSCOLA - The "Tuscola Fire" burned 300 acres and 3 structures Thursday afternoon. JNVFD was notified of a fire in the median on Hwy 83/84 just north of the "Y" around 1:30pm. With gusty southwest winds, the fire quickly jumped the northbound lane into the pasture east of the highway and raced north to CR 154 endangering several homes. After jumping CR 154, the fire continued north into heavy brush and the Texas Forest Service called in 3 helicopters, a heavy air tanker, and several dozer strike teams. The fire was fully contained with a fire break late Thursday afternoon, but crews remained onscene and monitored the situation into the overnight hours. Firefighters from Buffalo Gap, Lawn, Potosi, View, ECCA, Merkel and Abilene also responded to the call. No injuries were reported and all the residences on CR 154 were spared as of late Thursday. We responded with all 3 of our brush trucks but Brush 2 sustained extensive transmission damage fighting the fire.

The Rhodes Ranch Fire Burns 4000 Acres

ELM VALLEY - JNVFD assisted ECCA VFD with Brush 1, 2 and a tanker in fighting the Rhodes Ranch Fire. We logged in over 90 man hours of mutual aid to ECCA over the course of 3 days.

3 Jim Ned Firefighters attend Stamford Wildland School

STAMFORD - Three Jim Ned firefighters attended the Stamford Wildland Fire Control School for training in wildland firefighting techniques and fire scene search and rescue.

Abilene Brush Truck Overturns

ABILENE - An Abilene Fire Department brush truck overturns while fighting a grass fire. Watch the KTXS video.

Graham Lake Fire Burns 155 Acres

TUSCOLA - JNVFD responded to a fire in heavy brush off CR 207 just west of Graham Lake about 4:00pm today. Firefighters from Buffalo Gap, Lawn, ECCA, Moro and Winters provided mutual aid on the call. The Texas Forest Service also responded with 2 helicopters and 2 dozier strike teams to help fight the fire. JN firefighters logged in 30 man hours fighting the fire and we ended up having to replace 4 tires on Brush 1..

Jones County Fire Makes National News

HAWLEY - The Jones County fire that burned 2600 acres and 6 homes last week has made national headlines. Read the NFPA article "Wildfire When and Where You Least Expect It".