1904 Train Depot - Kingsville Texas

The Fireboys and Fighting Fire

Not too many folks know that the Texas Forest Service has set up headquarters in the basement of the Kleberg County Courthouse during the early part of 2009.  They have a command headquarters with computers and radio communications to coordinate fighting wild fires in South Texas.  Firefighters from all over the nation take turns manning places such as Kleberg County and South Texas during times of serious drought.  They were here in 2008 as well.  The group I met and talked with this year was from Michigan.  Groups are rotated every two weeks.

Fighting fire isn’t a new thing in Kleberg County.  Back in the early days of Kingsville the volunteer fire department was referred to as the “fireboys” in the Kingsville Record.  There were a lot of early and dramatic fires in Kingsville that were battled by the “fireboys”.  Both the Ragland Mercantile and the Kleberg Bank fell victim to fire in 1909.   

1918 saw wood frame buildings on Kleberg Avenue between the modern Harrel’s Drug Store and Goetsch Music Store burn.  The Kingsville Record Newspaper office was housed in a building at 6^th and King where the Allen Furniture building is, now part of the King Ranch Saddle Shop.  The newspaper was destroyed by fire in 1924.  Allen Furniture built on that property in 1926.  When it came time to rebuild after a bad fire businesses in the community did everything they could to construct “fireproof” or at least fire resistant buildings. 

Kathryn Evans has collected a long list of Kingsville fires which she records in her book, “Come Aboard”.  The railroad shop fire of 1920 leveled the roundhouse, the machine shop, boiler, blacksmith, and tin shop.  The livelihood for most of Kingsville went up in smoke that day but the railroad and the community banded together and quickly rebuilt.

1925 was a pretty active year for the Kingsville “fireboys”.  The year started with the tragic fire that gutted the Henrietta King High School.  The fire broke out at night and had far too great a start for the volunteers to cope with.  Later on in the year the Kingsville “fireboys” were called out to help fight a large fire in Falfurrias.  This was the first record I found of fire departments coming to the aid of other communities.  It is an early parallel to modern efforts to help control fires and protect property and lives in more than just one small community. 

Grass and brush fires in the county during our dought have been fought by several fire departments including the Kingsville Fire Department, NAS Kingsville Fire Department, Falfurrias Fire Department, Ricardo Volunteer Fire Department, Alice Fire Department and the Nueces County Fire Department.  Communities often have to band together to deal with disasters.   Mind those burn ban regulations and stop by to visit the 1904 Kingsville Train Depot Museum.