By Melissa Vargas
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Copyright 2007 Fort Worth Star-Telegram
FORT WORTH, Texas — Members of the North Fort Worth Alliance say they don’t have confidence in dialing 911 anymore.
The group, made up of residents from 18 neighborhoods near the Keller/Fort Worth border, has horror stories of fighting with police over jurisdiction issues when their streets were flooding and cars were street racing near an elementary school around dismissal time.
At a monthly meeting Saturday, alliance members decided to arrange a meeting with county commissioners, state representatives, and elected leaders and emergency personnel from both cities to make sure the promise of a mutual-aid agreement between Keller and Fort Worth is realized.
“It’s a very dangerous and serious problem,” said Colleen Demel, the group’s executive director. “We have been very fortunate that no one has died.”
A year ago, members were told that such an agreement was in the works after a 7-year-old girl had to wait for an ambulance after a car hit her in front of her school in far north Fort Worth. But a teen who crashed his car along Wall-Price Road on Aug. 8 still had to wait about 45 minutes for an officer, Demel said.
In each case, dispatchers and emergency responders squabbled over who should go.
The group plans to meet with all the officials in September or October. Meanwhile, they urge residents and officials to educate themselves on the cities’ boundaries.
Keller and the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Department have decided to respond to every call first and ask jurisdiction questions later. Fort Worth already had that rule in place for major accidents, said Lt. Dean Sullivan, a police spokesman.
The departments have also decided to update their maps to eliminate confusion when a call originates from an area along the city limits.
Officials for both cities also say they are working on a mutual-aid agreement.
Obstacles
Keller and Fort Worth have never had a mutual-aid agreement, and many people don’t know why, including interim Keller City Manager Kevin Lahner.
Fort Worth says it’s because before February, the closest Fort Worth fire station was too far from the city’s border to respond to a Keller emergency, spokesman Kent Worley said.
Officials began talking about a mutual-aid agreement six months ago when the Fort Worth department built a fire station near Park Vista Boulevard and Westport Parkway, Worley said.
Keller Fire Chief Kelly King says there is no agreement because Fort Worth has repeatedly rebuffed Keller’s attempts at creating one.
Fort Worth refuses to make mutual-aid contracts with volunteer fire departments for liability reasons. But since 2000, Keller’s department has been entirely staffed with full-time firefighters, King said.
Because of Fort Worth’s attitude concerning mutual aid, dating to the 1960s, 13 other cities in Northeast Tarrant County formed the Northeast Fire Department Association to help one another, King said. The association covers about 400,000 people and 180 square miles.
“We did it to be independent of the city of Fort Worth,” he said. “We did it out of necessity.”
Fort Worth has mutual-aid contracts only with departments that can meet Fort Worth’s equipment standards and other requirements, to keep Fort Worth’s employees safe, Worley said.