Land O’Lakes Gives $10K to Texas Volunteer Fire Departments

Land O’Lakes Inc. Foundation has donated $10,000 to Texas Forest Service’s Volunteer Fire Department assistance fund.

Volunteer fire departments served as the first line of defense against wildfires that devastated Texas this year, the forest service said. More than 29,000 blazes have burned almost 4 million acres of land since Nov. 15, 2010.

The Land O’Lakes donation will be dispersed through Texas Forest Service’s VFD assistance fund, a grant program through which departments can apply for vehicles, fire and rescue equipment, computer systems, training and other items.

Texas Forest Service, a member of the Texas A&M University System, serves as the incident management agency for state emergencies.

Texas has 1,497 fully volunteer fire departments with more than 35,000 members, and 292 combined volunteer and paid departments, according to the state comptroller’s office. There are 139 fully paid departments with a combined total of more than 19,500 firefighters primarily focused on protecting municipal areas.