Rural fire service in Kendall County depends on a roster of 30 to 35 volunteers and a measure of luck that residents can no longer afford to count on, according to Sisterdale Volunteer Fire Department Chief Brian Reilly. In the newest episode of The Building Texas Show, titled "Your Volunteer Fire Department Needs You Right Now," Reilly tells host Justin McKenzie that the math of modern fire response has outpaced the farming-era model that once sustained rural departments.
The implications are stark for a region adding roughly 17,000 home seekers a month. With about 70% of American firefighters serving as volunteers and most departments unable to keep trucks staffed, Reilly argues that money alone cannot close the gap. "We could have 40 fire engines and 100 firefighters there full time," he says. "If you're 20 minutes from the fire station and it took 10 minutes to even get dispatched, it's burned for 30 minutes. With modern fuels, all the plastics that are in houses now, your flashover time is like 4 or 5 minutes. It's not 20 like it used to be."
That 4-to-5-minute flashover window cannot be beaten by a 20-to-30-minute rural dispatch and drive time, no matter the budget. Reilly refuses to let residents lean on their good fortune, warning, "There's no reason why the next Bastrop isn't Kendall County... Fortunate is not a plan." The episode also traces how field medicine now accounts for more than half of every department's runs, and how the Hill Country Fire Coalition, working with groups like Team Rubicon, is trying to keep ordinary fires from becoming firestorms.
Reilly's first major interior structure fire left only a kitchen refrigerator standing, covered in a family's weekly priority list. He argues that debris management, fire breaks and landowner responsibility, once assumed under an older farming ethic, must be relearned by newcomers before the next major event, not after. The next and final Sisterdale episode will examine why the cedar in Hill Country yards is itself the fuel.
The department will host its 49th Annual Hunters Supper & Firearms Raffle on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026, from 5 to 9 p.m. at the William "Bill" Whitworth Fire Station, 1207 Sisterdale Rd., Boerne. Supper includes BBQ plates, a Cajun shrimp dinner and homemade desserts, and the raffle drawing is at 8:30 p.m. This year's featured prize is a 2026 Special Edition Custom Sisterdale VFD Henry 30-30 rifle, along with firearms, scopes, knives and more. Tickets are $10, winners don't need to be present, and firearm winners must complete the transfer through a licensed FFL. Proceeds support the gear, equipment and day-to-day needs that keep the station and its volunteers ready, including a new covered bay. Tickets and the full prize list are on the department's Hunters Supper & Raffle page.
