The City of Cockrell Hill is located in southwest Dallas County
a mile south of Interstate Highway 30. The City was named for either Wesley
Cockrell or his cousin Alexander Cockrell, an early Dallas county pioneer. The Cockrell Place was known to travelers on
the stage line that ran from Dallas
to Fort Belknap and on to El Paso and the west. The settlement
developed as an agricultural crossroads and by the late 1800s had a few
scattered homes, a small store, and a school. Water became the overriding issue
for the town's continued growth. Frank Jester, a local developer, laid out the
plan for the modern community of Cockrell Hill in 1911. A first attempt at
incorporation in 1925 proved unsuccessful, and the following year a vote to
dissolve the existing incorporation was approved. The second incorporation
passed on July 21, 1937,
when the population was 459. It was during this time of growth and planning
that the Cockrell Hill Volunteer Fire Department was founded.
It
was during our City’s Infancy that a small group of men recognized and met the
need for fire protection. For close to seventy years, our Department has served
the needs of the community with unwavering dedication and honor.
A healthy and relatively young organization, our department
administration follows a traditional military organization. We are led by our
Fire Chief, who is elected every two years, Assistant Fire Chief, Captain,
First Lieutenant, Second Lieutenant, Secretary, and Treasurer, all of whom are
elected annually. Within our organization, are various committees; each with an
assigned mission. These are S.O.P. and Bylaws Committee, Equipment Committee,
Website Committee, Public Relations and Fundraising Committee, and our new Fire
Prevention and Safety Committee*.
As
an all Volunteer department, we are met with financial challenges each year. To
ease the burden of dependency on the City, we are now a Tax Exempt 501(c) (3)
with the IRS. As such we are now able to accept donations and hold fundraisers.
All
funds generated through fundraising are used for the purchase of firefighting
apparatus, equipment, supplies, and help us to carry on our Community
Initiatives.
For the first time in 70 years our department is in
the planning stages for a number of Community Initiatives.
These include:
1. Fire Prevention and Safety Initiative
– servicing the needs of homes and schools
2. Fire Setter Rehabilitation Initiative
– servicing the needs of juvenile fire setters
3. Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Detector Initiative
– servicing the needs of our community home owners
In addition to our Community Initiatives and Fire
Protection, our department is now staffed with Emergency Medical Technicians at
the Basic and Paramedic levels. We have
recently added an Emergency Care Attendant to our EMS Personnel.
Our
services are not limited to the City of Cockrell Hill. We are also part of the
Dallas County Mutual Aid Agreement. We have come a long way from days of our
founding. With regular training obvious improvements in response times and
performance we have earned the confidence of Dallas Fire Fighters, Grand
Prairie Fire Fighters and, and Irving Fire Fighters
