Two months after taking over emergency services for an area that had been served by the West I-10 Volunteer Fire Department for 36 years, Harris County Emergency Service District 48 has had to figure out how to operate efficiently without ample resources while the West I-10 department continues to question the district's decision to end the two parties' longtime partnership.
The strife has further deepened since a Harris County judge split up assets between the two entities in an August court hearing.
Since the district's takeover, a transition more than a year in the making aimed partly at preparing for continued area growth, it has operated with borrowed or leased equipment and had to at times rely on aid from neighboring fire departments while also operating a station out of a local hotel as it waits for purchased emergency vehicles and equipment to arrive and for a new leased building to be ready.
The West I-10 department contests that the district has been irresponsible in how it has handled the transition and believes the area is not being serviced as well as before.
On May 31, either a judicial district judge or a trial jury will determine who retains permanent possession of assets that were split between both entities through the August temporary injunction, with the West I-10 department also suing for the district to give back service responsibilities or pay out a now-dismantled three-year contract from 2014.