The volunteer fire station in Refugio was hit hard by Hurricane Harvey. The fire chief said he believes it's a total loss, but the government has not sent any money for repairs.
So a group of residents has gotten together to hold a fundraiser to help out the department.
Fire Chief Don Pullin showed 3News on Thursday some of the damage that Hurricane Harvey did to the fire station.
"I would say 100-percent damage. We have put two tarps on the roof. It's still leaking in. We're getting water in on the apparatus. There's no place in town that we can move the apparatus to," Pullin said.
He and his volunteers are still fighting fires, but doing it out of a place he feels is unsafe and should be replaced.
"If you just put a building up, the next hurricane, 3 or 4 or 5, we're going to have the same problems," Pullin said. "We can't leave personnel down here unless we can prove it's hurricane safe."
The volunteers have been waiting on FEMA to help pay to get the fire station back in working order. It has been seven months, and no one has seen a dime.
Because of that, some residents like Michelle Myers and Beth Linscomb got fed up and decided to raise money for the department.
"We decided to do a fish fry on Good Friday. We used to have an organization that used to do that, but doesn't anymore, so we decided to do that and let's have it right by the fire station off the highway, so everyone can see what it is they'll be benefitting," Myers said.
"It makes me feel good because every time I drive by the fire department it makes me so sad to see this, and during the hurricane, some of them didn't have houses and they were out helping everyone else, and the fire department looks like this. And it's time for us to step up," Linscomb said.
It is hoped that at least $10,000 is raised from the fish fry. The chief hopes to combine that money with FEMA dollars, if and when that happens.
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