The Lometa Volunteer Fire Department made clear that it is still responding to calls within Lometa city limits, based on the department’s run sheets submitted to the State Fire Marshal’s Office.
In last week’s Lometa City Council, Mayor Derek Talley made claims the department is not answering calls for assistance in the city. Lometa VFD Chief Bobby Odom emphasized the department would never abandon city residents.
From June 2025 until the end of the year, Lometa VFD responded to 39 city calls, 19 of which were medical calls. In 2026, the department responded to three medical calls in January and two in February.
“We have two what you call ‘rescue trucks’ through the county, and we do make every call in the city,” Odom said. “If volunteers are available, we make them. We do not handicap the people of the city.”
Currently, the Lometa VFD is in the process of removing equipment it has purchased -- such as ladders, nozzles, fans, Jaws of Life extrication tools, ventilation fans and hand tools -- from the fire station at City Hall. The station houses one county brush truck used by the VFD, two city-owned fire trucks, two Lometa Police Department vehicles and one city-owned tractor.
Odom said the Lometa VFD’s relationship with the city has been fractured since the Lometa City Council sought a lease agreement on the fire hall in June. The council has enacted cuts to the department due to financial shortfalls in the budget.
“We took our equipment off [from trucks at the City Hall fire station] because we can use our equipment on these other trucks instead of leaving them in another building we can’t [access],” Odom said.
Along with problems over the lease agreement, the Lometa VFD chief is frustrated that the city is forcing the department to pay other expenses that previously were covered by the city. From June 2025 through the end of the year, Lometa VFD spent $9,467 for its utilities, reporting system, insurance for volunteers and other department expenditures.
In the 2023-2024 fiscal year, Odom said the department was promised approximately $23,000 from the city to cover important expenses. However, he said the volunteer fire department received only $6,000.
For the FY 2024-2025, Odom said the Lometa VFD never received any of the $23,200 that was budgeted for the department.
“They paid the utilities and paid for their trucks, their expenses – their gas, their oil changes, their upkeep,” Odom said. “Now, they just want us to keep giving them and get nothing back. I’m not going to store my equipment in a building that they shouldn’t but they have access to it anytime they want to. I have never heard of anybody leasing part of a building when it’s one building.”
Since Odom started with the Lometa VFD in 1980, a goal has been to establish a fire station on each side of the railroad tracks. That dream became a reality in 2023 when the station at 201 E. Olive St. was opened.
“I have seen four structures burn to the ground because of railroad track crossings [that blocked emergency access],” Odom said. “I always told everybody at every fundraiser, I want to get a building on each side. We finally got it, and then all hell broke loose.”
Odom said the volunteer fire department will relocate the county brush truck still at City Hall and remove any remaining equipment still stored at that fire station. Any equipment belonging to the city, including the two engines, will remain at City Hall.
Odom does not believe the relationship between the Lometa VFD and the City Council can be mended.
The Lometa VFD chief has plans to develop a second fire station, but those plans will be sidelined to allow the volunteer department to figure out its financing without aid from the city. A successful fall fundraiser could allow a new station to be built sooner rather than later.
“We will put in another building. It will be two bays just to handle two trucks,” Odom said. “There won’t be a classroom, there won’t even be running water. We will have gas for heat, electricity for lights, but other than that, two doors, trucks will back in, and that’s it. Simple.”
