FIRE TRUCK SEES IT BURN 

At another time, they had called and wanted the fire chief to go because there was a car on fire out on the highway. A couple of volunteer guys get on the big  fire truck and they get there and there’s a pickup truck on fire.  Tomas the fire chief was driving.  Okay get the hose.  They get out with the hose and stand right there in front of the burning truck.  Okay, turn it on.  The guys  look all around and say, “What did that fire chief tell us?” The truck is flaring up and the owners of the truck are standing there watching holding a baby.  Tomas says, “I think it needs to be in reverse to get the water to come out.”  Now the truck is in reverse, is there any water coming out?  No. So he puts it in neutral. Change the gears.  Okay, turn that switch, now flip the other switch, okay here it comes, here it comes. They hold on tight to the hose anticipating the water to flow out and all that comes out is a trickle of water.  

They told me later that they didn’t put out the fire.  When I went and saw the truck, it was totally burnt.  They never got the truck to pump any water out.  I told them, the next time there is a fire, take the little truck.   Okay, we know how to use that one. 

Encinal Fire Chief,
Tomas Garza, Jr
with the small fire truck

Reprinted from
The Encinal News, produced by Mayor John Harvey

The next time we needed a fire truck was when the attorney from Laredo, who has a ranch outside of Encinal, called to say that he had been burning some brush and it got out of hand.  He had about 10 acres or so.  Now it’s spreading out to the dry grasses.  Can you bring the fire truck?  Tomas says, “Yes, we’ll be right there.” 

So he remembered what I said and they went in the small truck and I went in the car.  The mayor is supposed to supervise all of this stuff.  When I get there, they get the hose and they push the one switch and the water starts coming out and they put the fire out.  The new truck was more complicated and they didn’t know how to make it work yet.  So they put out the fire. 

Later we had the fire chief from where we bought the big truck come back again to do more training.  Later I saw them practicing behind Eufemia’s house once they knew how to use the big truck. 

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