by Michael Robinson Uvalde Hesperian; pictures by Robinson

  Frio River enthusiasts and summer vacationers have returned to Concan and Frio River and the traffic on River Road (CR 248) has increased compared with last weekend. 

  Uvalde County Sheriff’s patrols have been noticed along River Road as well.  The lack of significant spring rainfall has resulted in low water levels in the Frio River but there were numerous people seen at the Concan Swimming Hole as well as Seven Bluff Crossing areas of the river area where there is still some water for people to splash and float around in.

“Summer is officially upon us. Concan had a record breaking Memorial Day opener for calls in one day. 11 calls in 24 hours for us. We utilized all of our trucks and UTV yesterday. More so our new ambulance was on the road the entire day. It’s going to be a long and very hot summer so we urge everyone to stay hydrated,” Concan Volunteer Fire Department Chief Justin Willis said. 

Joel Ramirez with San Antonio AirLife said, “It is starting up and it has been the same number of calls you would expect for summer, so no significant motorcycle or car wrecks and it would be great to get through the summer without one.”

The Uvalde Hesperian was up in Concan on Saturday afternoon and an ambulance was seen heading up Mountain Valley Road responding to an emergency call there.

An Overnight lightning strike causes tree limb to break and evidence of a fire inside a small house near the 1000 block along FM 137 aka River Road in Concan. The Concan Volunteer Fire and Knippa Volunteer Fire Departments were just on the scene. Owner of the house noticed the situation during the day. No one was staying at the house when the incident occurred .

Concan Fire Chief Willis said there was evidence of charring inside the structure.

 by Michael Robinson | Uvalde Hesperian; Picture by Robinson

   At approximately 5:45 PM, Knippa Volunteer Fire Department responded to a fire on the westbound side of Highway 90 about a mile to a mile and a half east of Knippa. 

  The Uvalde Hesperian learned that the fire may have started on the bar ditch near the railroad tracks and spread into a nearby cornfield. Just before 8 PM this evening fire crew was observed near the tracks hosing down a burnt area as an eastbound freight train passed by. It is not known at this time how the fire started or how much property was burned. 

  The Concan Volunteer Fire Department may have also sent a truck and personnel to assist with the fire as a Concan VFD truck was seen heading towards Knippa.

by Michael Robinson| Uvalde Hesperian : Picture by Robinson

 Pictured: The Concan Volunteer Fire Department personel wait for the San Antonio AirLife helicopter to arrive at the helipad near the intersection of State Road 127 and Highway 83 a few weeks ago to transport a patient brought from Leakey to be flown to a San Antonio Hospital

With thousands of summer tourists traveling to float the Frio River at Concan, Garner State Park and Texas Hill Country River Region in Uvalde County, between Memorial Day and Labor Day, emergency responders traditionally see a dramatic increase in emergency response calls.

  “Our calls in Concan, typically quadruple from Memorial Day to Labor Day due to the distance to Uvalde and also the distance to a trauma center, a lot of people are flown. It also depends on if they meet the requirements per STRAC.” said Fire Chief Justin Wills of the Concan Volunteer Fire Department. “We’ve had 72 calls since Memorial Day: Memorial Day weekend 6, June was 44 and July so far is 23,” he said.

  Joel Ramerez, a flight paramedic with San Antonio AirLife based in Uvalde said so far this summer, they have flown to Concan about 6 times. 

                                                                                                                Volunteer Fire Department to get a new ambulance

“Compared to Uvalde EMS it’s not very many calls but considering there’s only 200 permanent residents in Concan, that’s a lot for us.” Wills said. “We have actually been working on obtaining our own ambulance in Concan and it should be here sometime next month or September. We will be the first fire department based EMS in Uvalde County. When the ambulance comes in and is ready to go we will have an open house,” Wills said.