The Victory Episode: The Pflugerville Fire Department DEFEATS ESD 2 Prop A

Imagine facing the possibility of losing vital community services, only to witness an extraordinary display of unity that turns the tide. That's exactly what happened in Pflugerville, where the community came together to defeat Proposition A and safeguard the future of their beloved fire department. Join us as we recount the incredible journey. This episode is a testament to the power of collective action and unwavering support, highlighting a campaign that went beyond mere funding—it was about preserving the heart and soul of a community.

The dedication shown by volunteers, community members, and supporters filled the polls with an undeniable sense of purpose, even in the face of opposition. Leaders and community members share their stories. You'll hear the pride in the department and how the community's resilience and unity helped our fire department survive this challenging time. We express our deepest gratitude to everyone involved. Tune in to celebrate this remarkable victory and the profound impact of coming together for a common cause.

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:14

I'm just over the top with my feelings of pride for this fire department and what the men and women have been doing and standing the line with honesty and integrity.

Speaker 2 0:28

I met one of your rookie firefighters, Gabriel, and he was out there with his wife and it was hot and, as I just explained to someone a moment ago, it was like the West Texas Dust Bowl.

Speaker 3 0:38

Yes, you must have been at Rock Gym. Yeah, it was at.

Speaker 2 0:41

Rock Gym. It was like the West Texas Dust Bowl. It was at Rock Gym. Yeah, it was at Rock Gym. It was like the West Texas Dust Bowl. And that wife, gabriel's wife, she stood strong with their little baby out there, you know, with the fan and trying to take care of it so that he could be out there working those polls and making sure that we were changing the minds of voters. That's right, it was awesome.

Speaker 1 1:02

Well, I think that's the way this whole thing began. It was family. It was awesome. Well, I think that's the way this whole thing began. It was family, it was community and it was about doing and helping others in their time of need, and this was a time when the fire department needed all of our backing, and so my family. I couldn't be prouder of them. You all are my family. The fire department is my family.

Speaker 4 1:30

Welcome back to Flutterville on Fire. I'm your host, chris Wolfe. November 5th 2024, in addition to being a presidential election, I also saw, in Travis County, esd 2 Prop A a measure that would have reduced funding with the fire department by half cent go out on the ballot. Hundreds of people came together to support the fire department in many different ways. There was education, the addressing of misleading information, raising funds and all the logistical efforts that go into running a campaign, and all the logistical efforts that go into running a campaign. After months of all that prep work and weeks at the polls in person educating voters, all votes were counted and the results were in and Proposition A was not passed. And what did that all mean? Well, the fire department gets to keep its funding. Programs that have been on hold for months could begin again. No reduction in service, no firefighters laid off, no admin staff had to be cut loose. The paramedic program could continue, Construction projects that had been on hold could begin, the high school EMT and fire programs could go on being offered, and everybody that was working on the campaign could finally rest. Firefighters that had worked 24-hour shifts then were going to the polls for 12 straight days of early voting could go back to just doing their jobs. A massive thank you goes out to the Pflugerville community and members of Wells Branch. There were some pretty dark days when the opposition continued to put up more and more signs and would attack the fire department on social media, and in these times community members offered to help out, whether it was putting up yard signs or jumping in on our behalf with the social media, participating in block walks or donating to the cause, spreading the message and ultimately voting against Prop A. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. You have to understand those dark days to really get the joy and exuberance that was experienced on November 5th at the watch party that we hosted at Hanover's Draft House.

Speaker 4 3:37

In this very special episode you're going to hear live interviews as they happened throughout the night at Hanover's. We learned pretty early that we had won, and so you'll kind of see as that evening progresses. And for those of you supporters that weren't able to be there with us, we hope that you'll get a sense of the joy, excitement and achievement that was felt by those 100 people that were in attendance with us there at Hanover's. The first interview takes place at about 6 pm. Before the polls closed. We grabbed one of the firefighters that was out at Typhoon Texas, mr Zach Allman, and asked him a few questions before we even got going. Enjoy the interview. We're live, zachary. Thanks for coming on the show man. Where are we at right now?

Speaker 5 4:31

We are out in Pflugerville, texas, at Typhoon Texas trying to spread the word out about voting against ESD2 Prop A. That's right.

Speaker 4 4:40

Amen brother.

Speaker 5 4:40

Amen, it's.

Speaker 4 4:41

V-Day. Yes, how's it been going out here?

Speaker 5 4:44

You know it's great. We've got good vibes, good people supporting a good cause and we're getting after it.

Speaker 4 4:51

Have you had any good interactions with voters coming in?

Speaker 5 4:55

I would say majority of the interactions we're having, people are receptive to what we have to say. A lot of people are well-informed, They've done their research and just having someone here as a final like hey, this is what's going on, this is the truth, they're very receptive and they're grateful that we're out here.

Speaker 4 5:13

And Zach, you've got a lot going on like in life right now and everything else. Why is this so important to you that you're spending time out?

Speaker 5 5:21

here right now. Ah, we've got a lot going on. Yeah, um, because it matters. Stuff like this matters, um, the job we do, uh, it matters. These people, this community, matter, and what they're trying to do to this community is it's not right, it's not fair, um, so, to spend, you know, a few hours out here. At my time it it's more important to be out here and spreading this message that they're trying to defund the fire department and take first responders out of calls and away from the community, and it's just not right. So, I got a lot going on, but when you have something bigger than yourself, it's important to be out here.

Speaker 4 5:59

Thanks, man, thanks for what you're doing. You're killing it. Thank you, they ain't got no plan. Got no plan.

Speaker 1 6:04

They ain't got no plan. Got no plan. Ain't got no plan.

Speaker 4 6:10

If you didn't know, the lovely and talented Lacey Wolfe not only produces this podcast, she's an integral member of the Pflugerville On Fire family and the Don't Defund campaign. She was actually the one that called me from Hanover's when she found out that early voting had come out. The polls had shut down at seven and Dane and I were out picking up signs and it was about 740. We were about to walk in she called and said hey, where are you? Early voting is out, we're up and we're up big. And so Dane and I walked into Hanover's, knowing that we were up by such a margin that there was no coming back, and success was ours. In that time, lacey actually grabbed the first interview with chief of the fire department, nick Perkins. So enjoy the interview.

Speaker 1 7:01

So we're in Hanover's draft house, and early voting is just released and we're up almost 69%.

Speaker 5 7:09

How are you feeling about that?

Speaker 1 7:12

I'm feeling great we won.

Speaker 3 7:16

You, Chris, all the firefighters, all the community, you guys rose up and your voice was heard.

Speaker 2 7:24

And the effort to defund the fire department was not successful in a clear way and we need to pay attention to that.

Speaker 1 7:32

We need to learn from this. Everyone in the community needs to learn from this. Yeah, absolutely, thank you, thank you.

Speaker 4 7:42

I actually grabbed the second interview at the party that night with Michael Glenn, who's a VP with the IAFF International Association of Firefighters, and while it truly was a David and Goliath story, the firefighters funded this campaign really couldn't have done it by ourselves. The IAFF came through and donated $50,000 to the cause and then we got additional donations from Fort Worth Fire Department, irving Canyon Lake. Huge shout out to our brothers and sisters out there that jumped in for us and helped us in this battle. Michael Glenn just epitomizes that brotherhood, flying down multiple times to help us jump, climb in the trenches with us and help us do battle. Enjoy the interview. All right, michael Glenn. Man, what brings you down here? First of all, our listeners don't know man, who, who are you?

Speaker 4 8:44

Who are you in the zoo?

Speaker 2 8:45

So I'm a Fort Worth firefighter, but I am now the IAFF's 11th District Vice President, representing over 30,000 professional firefighters across both Oklahoma, texas and the Canal.

Speaker 4 8:58

Zone of Panama. International Association of Firefighters. Yes sir, Canal Zone of Panama.

Speaker 2 9:03

Yes, sir what.

Speaker 4 9:04

That's where I grew up.

Speaker 2 9:06

We don't have any affiliated firefighters there right now, but it's part of our district.

Speaker 4 9:09

Let's go down. Well, at least you're not going to go down there and change that. Let's do it. Let's go down there, man.

Speaker 2 9:14

We're victorious here. Why not go and take care of?

Speaker 4 9:18

that, let's just. You represent 30,000, and were there a lot of elections across your district?

Speaker 2 9:24

Yes, I've been kind of crisscrossing the state of Texas for different referendums. We've got the Irving firefighters are at 72% for collective bargaining today.

Speaker 3 9:33

The.

Speaker 2 9:33

Hutto firefighters are at 70.87% in favor of collective bargaining. We have a referendum going on down in McAllen, Wichita Falls. I don't have the results yet, but they were looking real favorable up there for collective bargaining. Firefighters are having great victories tonight across the state of Texas in our mighty 11th District.

Speaker 4 9:57

Man. Is anyone facing what we're facing down here in the city of Pflugerville Cy?

Speaker 2 10:01

Fair, Harris County, ESD 9, the Cy Fair firefighters. They're facing a similar kind of fight. They have ESD commissioners on the ballot for two seats. Oh, that's tough, two incumbents that are being challenged. None of our firefighters are facing what y'all have been facing here in Pflugerville. This is really just an amazingly crazy environment that y'all are working in right now.

Community Support for Fire Department

Speaker 4 10:30

Well, man, what did you think? I know you and I worked the polls together on Friday. What was your experience being out here? What I saw?

Speaker 2 10:41

with your constituents, your taxpayers, activists in the community, is really it's been rather, as I've explained to some people, rather deplorable. The venom, the vitriol that they are sharing with voters.

Speaker 4 11:01

And Michael to clarify for people that aren't in Pflugerville we're talking like 1% of the people out there in the city of Pflugerville and they're just bringing in 90% of the hate.

Speaker 2 11:11

Yeah, it's truly a vocal minority that is just working against something. I meant working against their first responders, working against their firefighters, and I've never seen anything like this In my 20-plus years of working elections being involved politically. This is something I've just never witnessed and experienced and, honestly, when President Stokes was talking to me, trevor was telling us about what was going on. I heard him, him and we provided support and resources, but it wasn't until I got on the ground and I got at the polls and I'm working with y'all, working with your wives and with family members. It was then that I saw holy cow, these guys are truly fighting, being defunded To defund the fire department. Who would?

Speaker 4 12:05

ever do that. Well, I've got to give a shout-out to the citizens of Pflugerville and of our district. As it stands right now, at 7.52 pm, we're up and we're up, big, big, and you know, for those of us working the polls it's not that surprising. No, no, I mean support was unreal.

Speaker 2 12:26

Yes, and the firefighters, again the firefighters, the firefighters' families being out there. I met one of your rookies. I met one of your rookie firefighters, gabriel, and he was out there with his wife and it was hot and, as I just explained to someone a moment ago, it was like the west texas dust bowl.

Speaker 4 12:45

Yes, you must have been at rock gym. Yeah, it was at rock gym.

Speaker 2 12:46

it was like the west texas dust bowl and and that wife, gabriel's wife, she stood strong um with their little baby, um, out there, um, you know, with the fan and trying to take care, but so that he could be out there working those polls and making sure that we were changing the minds of voters. That's right, it was awesome yeah.

Speaker 2 13:07

The victory to you in the Pflugerville Fire Department all rests with the voters having your backs with them, supporting you and having the confidence that you and everyone else in the Pflugerville Fire Department is doing good work to represent their needs and their interests.

Speaker 4 13:26

You know, michael, I feel like you know. You look at Pflugerville Fire Department. We haven't let our community down and I feel like tonight our community did not let us down. They came out, they came through, they came out.

Speaker 2 13:38

They came through for you and you had a moment ago where you mentioned that it's just a handful of people, a very small minority. Yes, the majority spoke and the majority has spoken very loudly. These are numbers I did not expect, even with what I saw at the polls. This is awesome.

Speaker 4 13:56

Congratulations.

Speaker 2 13:57

Thank you so much, you bet.

Speaker 4 13:59

Yes, the next interview is a great one because we kind of circle back to where it all began and we interview Big Chief Ron Molenberg, the chief of the fire department. When I got hired on and we got to let people know that at this time we are 16, 17 hours into a very long day, and so we started having battery problems with our microphones, this interview got cut short, so hopefully you'll excuse us, chief. Welcome back to the podcast a returning guest. How do you?

Speaker 1 14:34

feel right now?

Speaker 4 14:36

uh, it's the best I've felt in a long time, man it must be so amazing for you to be a part of this community for so long and to feel that love and support from the community.

Speaker 1 14:49

Yeah, without a doubt, I'm just over the top with my feelings of pride for this fire department and what the men and women have been doing and standing the line with honesty and integrity against a group that could lie to your face and not even know that they're sounding so silly in some of the stories they spun in this election.

Speaker 4 15:17

Yeah, I feel like this whole election was kind of a long time coming and it feels like a nice release to finally have it and let the citizens decide Do we stand behind this department or not?

Speaker 1 15:34

Oh, exactly, I think the citizens of the community have stepped up and shown that they understand the issues, in spite of the rhetoric that was spun out.

Speaker 4 15:46

All right last question Are we live? One of my favorite moments in this whole campaign was seeing you, your children. One of my favorite moments in this campaign was seeing you, your children and their children out at the polls. What did it feel like for you, driving up and seeing generations of your family out there standing in the line?

Speaker 1 16:14

Well, I think that's the way this whole thing began. It was family, it was community, and it was about doing and helping others in their time of need, and this was a time when the fire department needed all of our backing, and so my family. I couldn't be prouder of them. You all are my family. The fire department is my family.

Speaker 4 16:39

Well, thank you so much, Chief. I appreciate everything you've done for this department and this community, my pleasure. Our next interview of the night is with Nathaniel Archer and even though I call him a combination of Nathan, nate and Nate Dog, nathaniel is a local hometown Pflugerville guy and really stepped up huge for us when we needed his help the most. He was one that was there for us from the beginning and we really appreciate his help and hope you'll enjoy the most. He was one that was there for us from the beginning and we really appreciate his help and hope you'll enjoy the interview. Nathan Archer, welcome to the Flutters on Fire podcast. Great to be here. It's amazing man. It's like 930.

Speaker 6 17:24

We're pretty sure that we won this thing. How do you feel I feel great. I feel great that we didn't let anybody buy their lives. How do you feel I feel great? I feel great that we didn't let anybody buy their lies, right.

Speaker 4 17:32

Yeah, it was like truth was on trial. Are you going to believe lies or are you going to believe truth?

Speaker 6 17:38

Well, what's funny is when we were paired with the opposition and then an actual voter, we had truth on our side and voters saw through that.

Speaker 4 17:48

Yeah, it's an easy thing.

Speaker 6 17:57

So, nate, what's your affiliation with the fire department? Um, my wife is a pflugerville firefighter. She's uh, she just finished up with probationary time, um, and then I'm a pflugerville resident, long-time pflugerville resident, finally high school graduate, but, um, I've been living in every area forever that's what I'm talking about, dude.

Speaker 4 18:08

You were instrumental in the fight to save the fire department. You jumped on, you said so many smart things on social media, which is a space that usually government agency just gets its butt kicked right. So when we had us operating in our non-governmental capacities, we could really get out there and spread the message. What was that like?

Speaker 6 18:28

Absolutely it was great because you guys are forced to play nice. But when the opposition was forced with basic questions, asked basic questions, they didn't have an answer for it. They knew they were lying, they knew they were deceiving people and when you actually put their feet to the fire, they didn't have an answer or a solution.

Speaker 4 18:48

Absolutely, so you spend your time at the polls as well. You had young kids out there. What was your experience at the polls?

Speaker 6 18:57

My experience today was that when the opposition was there and you presented a voter with both the opposition and our position, they didn't have any real answers when you actually presented the truth that they had no plan. This wasn't about EMS at all. The city had made their own decisions and they still voted against the average homeowner or flugelberg residence decisions. They still made the decision to choose the cheapest option Right, not the best option, but the cheapest Right. Not the best option, but the cheapest Right. And then, once people were presented with that, they voted and sided with us.

Speaker 4 19:36

Yeah, yeah. I just give so much credit to our community. I feel like our community saw through. I mean, the opposition spent $250,000 on signs and all this other stuff and the community still saw through that it gives me hope.

Speaker 6 19:53

It should give you hope, because they've gotten away with lying to people for a long time and what they've done was they've made an enemy out of the fire department. And when they made an enemy out of the fire department and put their sights on them and their funding and them actually being a responsible advocate for the taxpayers money, they didn't have anything to stand on.

Speaker 4 20:20

Thank you so much, jude. You won a prize tonight. What was it?

Speaker 6 20:27

I won the Troll Patrol prize and it was given to me because when I saw things online, on Facebook, on Reddit, we didn't let the opposition lie to people and get away with trying to bully people into thinking that defunding the fire department was going to be in their best interest.

Speaker 4 20:49

Man, I had so many people come up to me and they said, wow, I saw your wife was really getting into it on Facebook. They were battling back and forth on Nextdoor. They were battling on Reddit. I was like, oh, what did you do? They're like oh no, I don't do anything, I just watch, and so you know when that's your lady, you know your favorite human that's being attacked. I feel so much affinity for our Troll Patrol people like you, man. Thank you so much for standing up for them and standing up for truth.

Speaker 6 21:18

Well, I was glad to do it. I'm from here, I grew up here, and the fact that they've been able to lie and get away with this for so long and they thought that they were just going to keep doing it and get people to vote against their best interests really upset me and I realized I wasn't going to stand for it.

Speaker 4 21:37

Oh, thank you for everything you do. I appreciate you, nate, absolutely. Thank you, sir. Our last interview of the night was with Trevor Stokes, who's the president of the local chapter of the Pflugerville Professional Firefighters, and by this time it's got to be 11 pm. Our voices are gone. We went outside because we thought it'd be more quiet because things were really ramping up inside, but turned out it was just as noisy outside as it was inside, and we lose Trevor after about a minute. But basically, this guy was doing a job and doing the politics that no firefighter wanted to do for years, and so this was an important moment for him. I hope it's a great way to wrap it up and hope you enjoy the interview. Okay, test, test, I'm hot, you good, we're good.

Speaker 1 22:30

Okay.

Speaker 4 22:32

All right, it is 11 o'clock at night on the November 5th election night. I'm with the president of the Pflugerville Firefighters Association, trevor Stokes. How you feeling right now?

Speaker 3 22:43

Feeling good, man Feeling good Dude.

Speaker 4 22:45

you have been in this battle for the fire department for at least 15 years. I mean, what are some of the obstacles you've had to overcome to get to where you are right now?

Speaker 3 22:57

Stick-to-itiveness and to be focused on the mission. And I think that the biggest thing is getting the firefighters bought in and why we're doing and where and why. But then to stick with that. And I think the biggest thing too, is understanding that it's not about us, it's the community. The community is what we're doing this for, I mean ultimately, and the city is seeing that, I mean it's changing and we just need to stick with it, do what's right to serve the community.

Speaker 4 23:28

I think a lot of guys are like man, I serve this community all the time. I, you know, I get paid to run calls and save lives. Why am I going to spend my off time doing more stuff? Um, but I was just overwhelmed by how many people came out, came out to the polls. We had, you know, dozens of dudes coming out on our own time. Man, how much did that play into all of this.

Speaker 3 23:49

So that was a huge concern of mine, because most people that work a 24-hour shift serving the community, when they're done, they are literally done, physically and emotionally done. The last thing they want to do is turn around and try to convince people to vote for them or to support them because they think, hey, what I'm doing on a day-to-day it's enough. Vote for them or to support them because they think, hey, what I'm doing on a day-to-day it's enough. But the reality is this community needs to understand why we are what we are and why we do what we do.

Thank You to Community Volunteers

Speaker 4 24:15

So with that last interview, that concludes the first season of Pflugerville on Fire. You know our battery on the microphones might have gone out, but our resolve never did. We were always there. So don't worry, there is at least one more bonus episode coming out, with Chief Ron Molenberg talking about the 71 fire.

Speaker 4 24:34

I want to take time. Thank you to all of our volunteers, all of our community members, and thank you, our listeners, for listening to the show. There were so many times I heard firefighters and community volunteers saying things that they had learned listening to this podcast and that's the whole reason that Lacey and I put it out in the first place and to our many guests, all of you that came on the podcast. Thank you so much for taking time out of your day and putting yourselves on the record and on the line. We appreciate you on the record and on the line. We appreciate you. Final shout out goes to Lacey Wolf, award-winning podcast producer and host in her own right. She's the one behind the whole podcast. Thank you so much. Couldn't do it without you. Well, that's it. That's it, trevor. That's it, that's it.

Speaker 1 25:23

That's all there is.

Speaker 4 25:25

We're done and done. Hello, there was so many times.

Speaker 1 25:35

I want to be a mulliver.

Speaker 4 25:38

They ain't got no plan.

Speaker 1 25:40

They ain't got no plan. Ha, ha, ha.