NEWS
June 5-6, 2026 Smoke in the Mountains BBQ & Ribeye Shootout
The afternoon crew at Smoke in The Mountains.
March 18, 2026 Water Donated by the Food Pantry of Jeff Davis County
March 13, 2026 Water Tanks Staged Throughout the DMR
Hello DMR residents, as many of you have noticed we have water tanks staged around the DMR for fire department to use in case of a fire. They enable any fire crew to refill water without having to return to the station to refill water there. Saving time and maybe someone’s property. The program of “Adopt -A-Tank” was started by Darrel Fellers around 2011-2012. We asked property owners to sign an agreement, the tanks belong to the DMRVFD but we asked the property owner to keep them filled for our use. The are fitted with 2-inch values so that our trucks can hook up easily. Over time the contracts went missing and properties have changed hands but the tanks are still there. I make sure they are filled and winterized in the fall. In doing this what we have found is that some tanks that should be there are not and some tanks we did not know anything about are there.
I have updated the agreement forms and would like to meet with the property owners to sign a new agreement. If you have a tank on your property and would like for it to stay there or if you have a tank and would like for us to move it somewhere else. Either way please contact me, FC Queen, so that we can meet. If you live out of town, I can send a you copy of the agreement via email and you can sign, scan, and email them back, or you can use USPS.
There are a few of you that have a tank close to the road that you as the owner will allow us to use. They are your tanks; you can use them for your person use but in case of fire we can connect to them. There is an agreement form for those as well.
My contact information is as follows, Edna Queen e-queen@sbcglobal.net 432-426-2111 land line 432-386-6138 cell
DMRVFD – 101 A Yellowknife Trail, Fort Davis, TX 79734
Thank you in advance with your help with this project.
Best wishes,
Edna Queen DMPOAVFD, INC. FIRE CHIEF
March 8, 2026 International Womens Day!
Happy International Womens Day. Shout-out to the women of the DMRVFD!
Edna Queen Fire Chief, Wendi Bates Fire Fighter, Rhonda Brown Honeycutt Fire Fighter.
February 19, 2026 New Radios!
Last summer the DMRVFD applied for a Yarborough Foundation grant to upgrade our communications equipment. We were looking at new Kenwood handheld radios and 100 watt mobile radios for our fire trucks. We were approved and received a $60,000.00 dollar grant in November 2025. We placed the order with American Communications by the end of November 2025. We waited. Finally on Thursday February 12, 2026, Kenneth Clouse, our American Communications representative, came to the station with our new equipment. We received sixteen handheld radios with chargers, microphones, spare batteries, and four, 100 watt mobile radios for our fire trucks. The new radios are analog and digital capable which prepares us for the future. Thank you to Michelle Lander for her help in getting the grant. Thank you to our communications officer Marvin Voiers for his hours of research to find just the right equipment to meet our needs.
Edna Queen – Fire Chief
DMPOAVFD, INC
January 26, 2026 Power Outage Info from Chief Edna Queen
Hello DMR community members,
Last night’s power outage showed us that we need to set up some protocols for when we experience a prolonged power outage. As the Fire Chief, when the power first went out, I immediately got on the HAM radio network to talk to people that might have information about the area of power outage. I was able to speak to a person that had gotten in touch with AEP and had confirmed with them that they were aware of the outage. AEP had given them a repair estimate of no later than 1am. They also posted it on the AEP website. Of course, you would need power to access this information. Myself, I am on the grid, so I had neither internet nor cell service. I do have a land line phone that does not require power, so you can contact me at 432-426-2111.
Our volunteers work hard in the service to our community, but I cannot ask someone to head to the station until we know that we will be needed.
If you are on a medical device that will require power after a certain amount of time, please try to contact someone. Call 911, call me at 432-426-2111, if you can, get on a radio to ask us to meet you at the station. Otherwise, unless the power is out for a prolong amount of time, we do not plan to open the station.
If we have 12 hours + of predicted power outage, then yes will we go and set up bay one with cots, blankets, etc. We have a limited amounts of cots but lots of metal chairs.
Please, if possible, bring a comfortable folding chair. Maybe a sleeping bag? We should have water gravity fed from the tanks, but we also have bottled water and a working bathroom.
Bring all the medications needed. Extra food would be appreciated.
I can house 20 people, maybe a little more if we use the limited space in the main bay. We have a generator and propane heat. We can heat food in the microwave and do some basic cooking if needed. We should have internet and phone service unless the dish is unable to get a signal.
At the heart of all of this is the need for our community to be as proactive for themselves as possible. The DMRVFD will do what we can to the best of our ability, but you need to be able to help yourselves and members of your household.
Sincerely,
Edna Queen – Fire Chief
DMPOAVFD, INC
December 23, 2025 New UTV
The DMR VFD was awarded a $25,000.00 equipment grant from the Texas Forest Service to purchase equipment for our department. After going over the list of what we could buy we realized on the list was an ATV. We have two, one belongs to the county and one is ours but both are two seaters. This Kawasaki will hold 4-6 people, has a lift kit and is 4 wheel drive. Perfect for our rugged country. Great for transporting firefighters and equipment to remote locations. Thank you to Adam from Texas Farm Store for delivering it to our station. I will now have to submit the required documents and the Forest Service will reimburse us our money minus 10 percent.
November 18, 2025 Notes From Our Chief
I applied for and received a Personal protection / equipment grant with the Texas Forest service early summer and was awarded $25,000 in September. It is a 90 /10 grant so we have to pay $2500.00 out of our pocket and the TFS pays the rest. The catch is we purchase what we need with in their guide lines, submit the invoices and then they will reimburse us the money. It takes 3-6 months to get the paperwork processed but it is very much worth the effort. I did a thorough inventory of our equipment to find what we needed. I have until February to complete my purchases. On the morning of October 14, I began seeing sent random emails about buying new brush trucks. I thought that was odd until that afternoon I received notice that after 13 years of being on the list for a Texas Forest service grant to purchase a new brush truck, we finally got it! $165,000.00 for a new truck and $45,000.00 to purchase an additional slip-on unit consisting of a water tank, hose real, and pump. We have been “on the list” for so long, we had given up hope of every getting grant. Especially sense last year they did not award any grants and did away with the list processes. These grants are 95/5 so we are responsible for $8250.00 for the 165,000.00 grant and $2250.00 for the $45,000.00 grant. I have a year for the build. We are buying a Siddon-Martin built, Ford F350 Dagger 300, 4×4 type 6 brush truck. For the last year I have been working with the Yarborough Foundation out of Midland for a grant to purchase new radio equipment. We missed out last year because we thought we were a 501-C3 organization and it turned out that we are a 501-C4. It took more than 8 months for the IRS to change our status. After submitting tons of supplemental paper paperwork, I got the application mid-October. I filled it out overnight, barely making the dead line, but it was in. I got my contract last week. We signed Monday, sent it back and received a $60,000.00 check to purchase our new radio equipment Saturday. You got to understand that our department has never had new top of the line radio equipment. We had hand me downs and Ebay specials till they all fell apart. We have been making due with cheap Chinese made Baofeng radios because that all we could afford. Now we will have Kenwood hand held radios and 100 w base stations for our trucks. It should make communication in our mountains so much better. It has been an amazing last few months for the DMRVFD. $295,000.00 in grant money is unprecedented. I will most likely not use the 45,000.00 grant. I do not have a chaise to put it on and do not have the extra money for something we would just have to store. Either way, I am so proud of our department.
Edna Queen – Fire Chief – DMPOAVFD