It was June 1972 when 13-year old Sidney Webb, Jr. joined Sheldon Volunteer Fire Department, in an eastern suburb of Houston. The department was formed in 1965 by former retired Air Force Capt. Paul V. Reed, who saw the need for a fire department and ambulance service for the area. It was during a time when the founders often used homemade firetrucks and water hoses to extinguish fires and tend to the sick and injured. Fire crews were small but served when the need arose.
Sidney joined as a Junior Firefighter. His main duties at the time were cleaning and rolling up hose for the fire trucks and washing ambulances returning from calls. As he matured he went on to take various firefighting training and Emergency Medical Tech training for their ambulance service. He later became Ambulance Chief for the department. At one point he was both Fire and Ambulance Chief.
The response area was approximately 50 miles with limited hospital and medical outlets nearby. The annual fire department budget was under $10,000 a year. From 1955 to 2003 the fire department was exclusively volunteer. Sidney’s parents also served with the fire department. His mother was a dispatcher via a phone tree to the volunteers. To call out the firefighters, a Q2 air horn siren was blast over the neighborhood. Since then, Sheldon has had extensive growth with residents and industry. The area has an estimated population of 175,000 residents and response area of 100 miles. One home-based station has expanded into three with another in the building process now at a cost of $14 million. The department has over 1,800 calls per year, 26 full-time firefighters, 32 part-time firefighters on staff and is overseen by Harris County ESD#60. Chief Webb and Sheldon Community Fire & Rescue would like to thank the community for their continued support.
