The Pedernales Fire Department was formed by a concerned group of volunteers in the 1970's. The department was formed because, at the time, the Pedernales River valley area did not have anyone to put out fires or respond to our neighbors in need. At first, the Pedernales River Valley area had two separate departments; The Pedernales Volunteer Fire Deptment and Pedernales EMS. In 1995 the two departments merged to form the “Pedernales Emergency Services”. Our department continued to provide fire, vehicle rescue, rope rescue, water rescue and EMS first responder service to the citizens of the Pedernales River Valley with an all volunteer department until 2002. In April of 2002, the first career firefighters were hired to provide emergency response 24 hrs a day 7 days a week.
Currently, we have 6 career firefighters on duty 24 hrs a day 7 days a week responding from two stations. We are considered a “combination” fire department since we have both career fire fighters and volunteer members. In 2007 we changed the name of our department to the “Pedernales Fire Department”. Our department is a non-profit private organization that contracts with Travis County Emergency Services District #8 to provide fire, EMS and rescue response to our response area. Pedernales Fire Department responds to 45 square miles of Travis County, 20 miles of shoreline on Lake Travis and the Pedernales River, and Pace Bend Park, Travis Counties largest and most visited park. The IRS has classified our organization as a 501 C-4 for tax purposes.