Since the 2011 wildfire season began this past November, Texas Fire Departments have responded to an over whelming 11,785 wildfires that have burned 2,904,807 acres. As of this release our fire fighters are battling and responding to 13 active wildfires in the state that are burning 59,114 acres.
During this fight our brave fire fighters have saved approximately 95% of the structures that were in danger of burning this season for a total of 21,251 structures. This includes homes, churches, schools and city buildings. Sadly, 1,212 structures have been lost due to the wildfires and the Volunteer Fire Departments budgets have been drained or depleted, hindering their ability to repair and perform maintenance on equipment damaged as a result of these fires.
IntegraCare saw a need and wanted to give back to the brave men and women who did so much to serve our rural communities. Over 35 IntegraCare Home Health and Hospice locations in North and West TX sponsored a Volunteer Fire Department donation drive with the company matching the donations and all the proceeds going to the Texas Forest
Service (TFS) Volunteer Fire Department Emergency Assistance Fund. Each location placed a container at the front desk and collected monies anyone was able to offer.
IntegraCare has officially closed the fundraiser and is extremely proud to announce that after all the nickels, dimes, quarters and dollar bills were counted our branches were able to raise $2,592.24. As planned, IntegraCare home office matched that amount dollar-for-dollar! A little quick math means that IntegraCare Home Health is able to donate a grand total of $5,184.48 to the Texas Forest Service Volunteer Fire Department Fund! The TFS distributed all of the proceeds to the Volunteer Fire Departments via grants for firefighting expenses.
Thank you fire fighters for all you sacrifice and give! IntegraCare is proud to be able to give to the fire fighters, who in turn give so much to the communities they serve!