The pink-shaded area represents a portion of Bexar County where Kirby Fire Department provides first-responder emergency service. The homeowners in this area are in jeopardy of losing that fire protection if Kirby is unable to get an Emergency Services District approved and operational. Courtesy photo

Homeowners in Brentfield, Woodlake, Ventura and Horizon Pointe — as of June 1, 2008, you will no longer have fire coverage for your homes.

Do you live in Glenloch Farms, Mustang Valley, Escondido Creek, Mission Hills, Woodlake or Candle-wood Park? June 1 is your date, too.

Nineteen county subdivisions currently being served by the Kirby Fire Department face the prospect of losing that fire coverage, unless an emergency services district is created, placed on the May 2008 ballot and approved.

Firefighters and EMT personnel from Kirby held a public forum at Wagner High School Nov. 29 to start gathering the 150-200 signatures needed to put the proposal on the ballot to establish ESD 11 — an area of Bexar County north of Interstate 10, east of Foster Road, south of FM 78 and west of a line that stretches from the FM 78-Walzem Road intersection to FM 1516 at Escondido Creek.

But poor attendance at the meeting — this Herald writer was the lone public attendee — has Kirby city and fire officials with their backs to the wall, desperate to find ways to explain how as ESD will work, be funded and save money for the residents of the 19 subdivisions — as well as offer the fire protection the residents are in jeopardy of losing.

“We need 150 verifiable signatures on a petition to turn into the Bexar County Fire Marshal’s Office by Dec. 31,” Kirby Mayor Johnny Duffek said. “If we don’t get the signatures, June 1 is the date we have to cut off fire service out here.”

One problem is budgeting. Kirby receives $1,143 annually from the county for yearly fire coverage outside the city limits of Kirby. Some firefighters at the meeting said $300-$400 would be a good estimate of what it costs the department in fuel, man-hours and vehicle wear-and-tear, to answer a single call in the county.

In 2006, Kirby responded to 960 calls in the county — “You do the math,” one firefighter asked.

In a brief “Letter to the Editor” in today’s Herald, Kirby Mayor Johnny Duffek issued a plea to county residents and homeowner associations in the 19 affected subdivisions.

”Ninety percent of our calls … are outside of Kirby,” Duffek said. “The wear and tear on our equipment, the cost of fuel, insurance, paid personnel and the liability of these calls can no longer be absorbed by the city of Kirby and the few donations we receive.”

Kirby just refurbished two pumpers, at a cost of $120,000. Theoretically, if 90 percent of the department’s calls are for emergencies outside the Kirby city limits, then 90 percent of the $120,000 — or $108,000 — is attributed to county calls. Yet the city only receives the $1,100 stipend from Bexar County.

Additionally, firefighters said, residents of the 19 subdivisions don’t realize the substandard service currently in place, either.

“What people don’t realize is, when they call 911 all they are guaranteed with our current staffing is one firefighter and one truck. That’s it,” said Kirby Fire Department Capt. Carlos Alfaro. Kirby currently has a staff rotation of two full-time EMTs and one firefighter in the station. KFD relies on its volunteer force and mutual aid agreements with surrounding city and volunteer departments to arrive on the scene of any fire in its county region.

The National Fire Protection Agency, he said, states that an adequate crew for fire suppression “is supposed to have 9 men attacking the fire. Right now, we only send 1, and hope we get the volunteers and mutual aid to staff 6 or 7, tops.”

The department, Duffek said, needs about 200 signatures by the end of the month in order to get a proposal for Emergency Services District 11 on the May 2008 ballot.

The ballot issue would include a 10-cent per $100 of assessed valuation. A homeowner with a $120,000 house, for example, would pay $120 yearly, or $10 per month.

The ESD would allow Kirby to hire more personnel, allowing better response to emergency situations.

Converse underwent a similar change when it adopted ESD No. 1. Its fire department grew from four full-time staffers on any shift to 8, and then 10. When a county resident inside the Converse ESD calls in for an emergency, a full staff of 10 roll to the scene.

Currently, in what would be the Kirby ESD, a fire emergency would get response from one Kirby truck and a lone firefighter, until mutual aid firefighters arrive from Converse, Live Oak, Windcrest or Universal City.

Duffek said homeowners need to know the consequence of not supporting an ESD. A rather minor fire, such as a grease fire or grass fire, could blossom into a major home blaze.

Homeowners who try to fight such blazes with their own hoses or emergency apparatus will be putting their own lives in danger.

Duffek said the city and department will be more than willing to give a 10-minute PowerPoint program to associations and homeowners in order to get the required signatures before the month ends.

“Ending Kirby’s first-response fire protection to these people is the last thing we want to do,” he added.