Our History

Creating a volunteer fire department in eastern Kendall County began with a concerned citizens group comprised of Steve Koronczok, Scott Shaheen, and J.W. Pieper,  who started gathering to brainstorm in 2004. Once they agreed upon the need for a local fire station, they began searching for a possible site, and Bergheim was selected as a central location. The Kendall County Commissioner Gene Miertschin -Precinct 2 helped the group obtain a deed from Kendall County for land to build the fire station. The planning group, now called the Organizing Committee, met in one another's homes. By 2005, it had expanded to include interested residents of surrounding communities such as Bergheim, Kendall Woods, Coveney Ranch, North Barcroft Estates, Sage Oaks, Cordillera Ranch, and Waterstone. With the site selected and the deed in hand, the group started developing plans to create the Bergheim Volunteer Fire Department. In 2005, they submitted filings for registering with Texas as a non-profit corporation. In early 2006, an application was made to the IRS for 501(c)3 tax-exempt classification. 

The slab was poured for the firehouse in June 2007. Under the direction of Hooker Contracting, construction was completed in April 2009. The department was officially established in 2008, with a dedication to the new firehouse that occurred on May 14, 2009, and it officially began operating in June 2009. 

Bergheim fire department's first fire truck, now retired, was Engine 31 - a GMC 6000 obtained from the Waring VFD, and the first Brush truck - B31 was a Ford truck obtained from the Boerne Fire Department. In B31, the Bergheim Volunteer Fire Department responded to its first call - A brush fire during a burn ban. The fire was controlled and contained, and all went home safely. 

Since that historic first call 13 years ago, the department has gone through various changes, including personnel, equipment, apparatus, and service area. For example, in 2009, BVFD answered 58 calls; in 2010, 79 calls, and by 2011 that number grew to 205 calls for service. Also, in 2011, Bergheim was the first volunteer fire department to respond to a vast Camp Bullis/ Camp Stanley brush fire which they battled for three days. In contrast, BVFD responded to 275 calls in 2019, 266 in 2020, and a whopping 386 in 2021. And ironically, Camp Bullis is on fire again at the time of this writing, and BVFD responded!

The growth in Kendall County has undoubtedly blossomed over this same timeframe. In 2008, there were over 1000 houses and more than 3500 residents in our service response area, which started as 51 square miles and has grown to 58 square miles and now covers more than 2,700 houses and more than 8,000 residents. From 1990 to 2000, Kendall county grew by 62%, and in 2012, the US Census Bureau projected a 40% continued growth from 2010 to 2020. The 2020 US Census reports 44,279 residents in Kendall County, or an actual 32.5% population increase since 2010.

In our early days as a new department, BVFD had an initial crew of 16 firefighters, including the first Fire Chief, Jeff Hoffstadt, our current Board President. Since “the old days,” we’ve seen 115 different firefighters sworn in at the department. Happily, two of our original firefighters are still on board, and in fact, BVFD firefighter #6 is none other than our current Assistant Fire Chief. The other, BVFD firefighter #5, has recently announced his retirement after 13 long years of dedicated service to this community.

Early in our history, our biggest challenge was identified as access to a sufficient water supply. In 2012, BVFD began strategically purchasing and staging 10,000-gallon water supply tanks throughout the service area to provide more convenient access to water re-supply via Tender 33. Currently, the homes surrounding the Cordillera Golf course are the only residences in the BVFD response area with access to certified fire hydrants.