113 years of answering the call.
From a hand-drawn pumper wagon and a handful of Comfort citizens to thirteen apparatus, twenty-six volunteers, and a siren that saved an entire town — this is our story.
Comfort, Texas. Founded 1854.
Comfort was founded by German immigrants — Freethinkers who left their homeland seeking religious freedom, political independence, and a better life. Ernst Hermann Altgelt surveyed the land at the junction of the Guadalupe River and Cypress Creek in 1854 and saw no reason to go further.
These settlers built one of the most well-preserved historic business districts in Texas. Most of the original stone structures downtown still stand. The Treue der Union monument — erected in 1866 to honor 35 men killed by Confederate forces for refusing to abandon their Union loyalties — remains one of the few Civil War monuments to the Union in the former Confederacy.
When this department was founded in 1912, Comfort was already 58 years old. The same families who built the town were the ones who organized to protect it.
- Founded 1854 by German Freethinkers
- Population: approximately 2,200 residents
- Located in Kendall County, Hill Country Texas
- 48 miles northwest of San Antonio
- Sits at the junction of the Guadalupe River and Cypress Creek
- One of the most well-preserved historic districts in Texas
- CVFD has protected this town for 113 of its 172 years
A group of Comfort citizens gathered and voted to establish the Comfort Volunteer Fire Department. No paid positions, no county contracts, no budget — only a shared conviction that a town is responsible for its own people.
Their first piece of equipment was a hand-drawn pumper wagon — no engine, no horses, pulled by hand to every call. That wagon is now on display at the San Antonio Fire Museum at 801 E. Houston Street, next door to the Alamo.
Flash flooding struck the Guadalupe River corridor, killing 33 people across the Hill Country — including 15 in Comfort itself. Among those lost was the grandfather of Daniel Morales, who would go on to serve CVFD for over 50 years and eventually become Assistant Chief.
The 1978 flood shaped a generation of Comfort residents. It was never forgotten. And it drove the decisions that would matter most on July 4, 2025.
More than 300 children from several churches were attending Pot O' Gold Christian Camp near Comfort when massive flooding struck the Guadalupe. A bus and van became trapped at a flooded low-water crossing. Thirty-nine teenagers and four adults were swept into the floodwaters. Ten of the teenagers drowned.
The remaining 33 were rescued — some by Texas DPS and U.S. Army helicopters pulling children from the tops of 75-foot trees, with only 15 feet of tree remaining above the waterline.
CVFD responded alongside other agencies. The call left a permanent mark on the department — a reminder that the Hill Country's rivers demand preparation, not improvisation.
The department constructed a new station at 224 W Highway 473 in 1996 — the same station that serves the community today. The department later reorganized as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, establishing the fundraising structure that sustains operations to this day.
CVFD took delivery of a 2023 Spartan pumper — Engine 52. With a 1,250 GPM pump and 1,000 gallon tank, it is one of the most capable engines in the Hill Country. The acquisition was the product of years of community fundraising.
Assistant Chief Daniel Morales — who had been with CVFD for nearly 50 years and who lost his own grandfather in the 1978 flood — secured $70,000 in funding to expand Comfort's emergency warning system. Bandera Electric donated the siren poles. The original station siren was refurbished and relocated to Comfort Park, connecting it to a USGS sensor at Cypress Creek.
The system has two distinct tones — one for tornadoes, a long flat tone for floods. The sirens were tested daily at noon — so that when the real tone came, everyone would recognize it. Four women in their 80s, including Betty Murphy, rallied community support to make it happen.
Catastrophic flash flooding struck the Hill Country in the early morning hours of July 4th. The Guadalupe River rose with terrifying speed. CVFD was already monitoring the river before most of Comfort was awake.
Police and fire vehicles went street to street with lights flashing. Emergency alerts went to every cell phone. At 10:52 AM, CVFD sounded the flood siren — the first time the upgraded system had ever been activated. The long flat tone rang out across town.
The Guadalupe rose from hip-height to three stories tall in just over two hours — among the highest crests ever recorded in Comfort. CVFD's three-prong approach — sirens, street-to-street evacuation, and wireless alerts — made all the difference.
The story drew national and international coverage — AP, NBC, CBS, CNN, Euronews. CVFD has already been contacted about adding a third siren.
The siren has not missed a day.
Every day at noon, the siren at the Comfort Volunteer Fire Department sounds across town. Residents set their watches by it. It is a test — and a promise — that the department keeps every single day.