Spring Fire Honors W.W. “Cotton” Weaver

Photos and story by Hannah Falcon

In 1953, members of the Spring community formed the Spring Volunteer Fire Department. 65 years later, the Spring Fire Department honors one of those original firefighters, former Fire Chief W. W. “Cotton” Weaver, by naming the future training facility after him.

This week members of the Harris County Emergency Service District #7 board signed the papers to purchase over 50 acres of land on the northeast corner of Louetta and Lexington that will become a multipurpose facility with a training center, classrooms and a fire apparatus maintenance garage.

HCESD #7 board members Bob Schmanski, Todd Anderson, Gayle Fuller, Melanie Gander, and Keith Willingham were present to sign the documents and honor Weaver.

“We are all honored to have you here with us today as our fire department takes another bold leap into the future,” HCESD #7 board president Schmanski told the crowd gathered in Station 71’s bay. “(The) ESD exists to make sure the Spring Fire department has the fire suppression, prevention and emergency medical services the growing community that we’re in needs.”

The Spring area has grown exponentially in the past 65 years. As Spring Fire Chief Scott Seifert put it, only a few years ago the tallest building was four stories high and now there are several buildings above six stories. In order to keep up with the growth of the community, the Spring Fire Department has updated its training regime and will soon have a training facility where firefighters can train in situations they deal with during emergency calls.

“What we’re doing today is an incredible thing that’s going to enhance our training program over the years to come,” Seifert said. “There’s all kinds of growth happening in the Spring, Texas area and we’ll continue to grow as long as we have the support from the community in both property tax and sales tax.”

The new multipurpose complex will provide firefighters with state of the art training equipment, classrooms and auditoriums and a garage for vehicle and equipment maintenance. Firefighters will be able to train in everything from live burns to elevator and water rescues.

Despite the hot July afternoon, large contingent of Spring residents turned out to celebrate with Weaver and learn more about the upcoming training center.

“When we started this fire department 65 years ago, we never thought that it’d be this big today,” Weaver said. “I hope it continues to keep on growing as it has.”

Hannah Falcon is a sophomore Communication major at Texas A&M University. A Staff Writer and Life & Arts Editor for the Texas A&M Battalion, Falcon is spending the summer as a volunteer writer for Spring Fire Community News.