LCRA awards $15,916 grant to Merkel VFD for much-needed emergency equipment
New gear will help firefighters stabilize vehicles, rescue people trapped after traffic accidents
Nov. 20, 2025
MERKEL, Texas – The Merkel Volunteer Fire Department soon will purchase equipment to help firefighters quickly and safely extract people from vehicles after wrecks, thanks to a $15,916 grant from the Lower Colorado River Authority.
The community grant, along with $3,983 in matching funds from the VFD, also will pay for new equipment to enable firefighters to repair broken fire hoses on-site.
“In every extrication scenario we deal with stabilization time, extrication time and drive time to the hospital, which is known as the Golden Hour,” said Kris Hester, assistant fire chief. “Patients that arrive at a trauma center within this hour have a better chance at surviving. The battery-operated equipment we’re buying will greatly reduce the amount of time it takes for us to reach a patient trapped in a vehicle versus using chains or having to wait for a wrecker to assist us.”
Harris said a recent traffic study from the Texas Department of Transportation showed approximately 35,000 vehicles travel through Merkel VFD’s response area each day, with traffic expected to increase as new families, businesses and industries move to the area.
“Merkel is a small farming community, and without grants our fire department would not have half of the equipment we need to keep our community safe,” Hester said. “A purchase like this one would be fiscally unattainable for our department without long-term sacrifices to our small annual budget. With firefighting, there is always something broken, used up or needing to be replaced, and this grant will greatly help us meet the high expectations placed on us by our community.”
The new fire hose expansion unit will enable the department to repair fire hoses locally rather than sending them out to external vendors.
Merkel VFD covers 199 square miles of Taylor and Jones counties and provides automatic aid to the cities of Trent and Tye and mutual aid to 15 other fire departments in three counties.
This is one of 41 grants awarded recently through LCRA Community Grants. These grants are awarded twice a year as part of LCRA’s effort to give back to communities in its wholesale electric, water and transmission service areas.
Applications for the next round of grants will be accepted in January. More information is available at lcra.org/cdpp.
About LCRA
The Lower Colorado River Authority serves customers and communities throughout Texas by managing the lower Colorado River; generating and transmitting electric power; providing a clean, reliable water supply; and offering outdoor adventures at more than 40 parks along the Colorado River from the Texas Hill Country to the Gulf Coast. LCRA and its employees are committed to fulfilling our mission to enhance the quality of life of the Texans we serve through water stewardship, energy and community service. LCRA was created by the Texas Legislature in 1934 and receives no state appropriations.
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