Westfield Fire Department serves area

Westfield Fire Chief is Maureen Turrentine. In her office is memorabilia and photos of her father

NORTHEAST HARRIS COUNTY– Volunteer fire departments, such as Westfield, Aldine, Eastex and Little York, are the backbone of our public safety system in Harris County. Medical calls are also answered by ESD#1, the medical responder in these service areas.
Each of these is made up of dedicated men and women who are there when we need them most– fire, car accident, medical emergency.
Departments such as Westfield have a long history of service to the community, and we get to see them at public functions as well as emergencies.
At Westfield, the chief is Maureen Turentine, and she follows in the footsteps of her father, who was the former chief for many years. The department started in 1942, and Maureen joined in 1976. She has been chief for about 4 years. The Assistant Chief is Tommy Searcy.
Westfield is known as a first responder, and therefore keeps paid as well as volunteers on staff so that they are ready for any call immediately. They have had this designation in their service area since 1985. Last year, they answered 2500 calls for service, including fire and emergency calls.

They are part of ESD#25, and get part of their funding from a tax base administered by Harris County. This amounts to a 10 cent assessment on property valuation of $100 yearly.
Chief Turrentine presides over a department with 20 volunteers, 22 paid responders and 2 office staff.
Equipment for the department includes a ladder truck, 2 engines (pumpers), a 2500 gallon tanker, 2 boats, a squad car, and 2 brush trucks. This equipment is housed in two stations now, one on Lauder Road and one on Bentley. Chief Turrentine said that future plans include a new building on Lauder Road across from the present location, where a training facility would be built.
Recently her department participated in National Fire Prevention Week, and visited local schools to meet families, talk about fire safety, and get better known in the community.
Turrentine said that sometimes misconceptions about quality of service come from people who don’t understand the fire protection and public safety systems of the county, and she welcomes the opportunity to explain her department and get to be better known in the community.
Turrentine is one of only a few women chiefs in the area, she said, citing the fire chief in Rosenberg as the only other one she knows.
Westfield’s service area covers 15 square miles with 25,000 residents. It extends from I-45 to US59, and Little York to Greens Bayou.