A Brief History of Smith County ESD2

Smith County is located in East Texas, approximately 98 miles from Dallas. The County has a long and distinguished history dating back to 1846. Today, Smith County has a population of more than 230,000 residents and is home to numerous higher education institutions, with rich cultural diversity. The District has a challenging response area covering 712 square miles throughout Smith County and outside the city limits of Tyler, Texas, and smaller jurisdictions. There is a wide variety of population densities, geographic variances including large bodies of water and limited-access open-space. The jurisdictional boundaries around the cities of Tyler and Whitehouse affect agency response in some areas of the District; thus, the District must rely on internal resources to provide effective emergency response.

History & Timeline

Before the ESD the 11 VFDs struggled with manpower, equipment, and supplies. Follow our timeline to see how the ESD is moving forward and keeping up with the changing needs of our county.

2007 - ESD2 Founded

Smith County Emergency Services District 2 was created in 2007 by successful passage of an election as authorized by Chapter 775 of the Texas Health and Safety Code and as ordered by the Smith County Commissioners Court. The election served to establish a geographical boundary with the authorization to establish a property tax rate not to exceed $0.10 per $100.00 assessed value.

2014 - First Election Conducted

The five-member boards governing Emergency Services District No. 1 and No. 2 are volunteer positions and were appointed by county commissioners until a state law created single-member districts to represent voters equally.

2015 - Transition to a Combination Agency

ESD2 citizens prior to 2015 where served purely by our dedicated volunteers. With changing times it became harder and harder for the volunteers to make calls for service during the day when they where at work so the ESD began staffing stations with paid firefighters during normal business hours to supplement the volunteers.

2019 - Passage of Sales Tax

In the 2019 election, voters elected to approve the ESD’s request for a sales tax of up to 1.5 percent that would provide more funding for Smith County Emergency Services District No. 2

2020 - 24/7 Staffing

After passing the sales tax the ESD began staffing 5 fire stations 24 hours a day 7 days a week with 3 firefighters.

The Last Alarm

My father was a fireman. He drove a big red truck, and when he’d go to work each day, he’d say, “Mother, wish me luck.” Then Dad would not come home again until sometime the next day. But the thing that bothered me the most was the things some folks would say: “A fireman’s life is easy. He eats and sleeps and plays, and sometimes he won’t fight a fire for many, many days.”

When I first heard these words, I was too young to understand. But I knew when people had trouble, Dad was there to lend a hand. Then my father went to work one day and kissed us all goodbye — but little did we realize that night we all would cry.

My father lost his life that night when the floor gave way below, and I wondered why he’d risked his life for someone he did not know. But now I truly realize the greatest gift a man can give is to lay his life upon the line so that someone else might live.

So as we go from day to day and pray to God above, say a prayer for your local fireman — he may save the ones you love.

Transparency to the Core

ESD2 strives to exceed the expectation of transparency of our citizens, visitors, partners, and concerned parties. We have taken many steps towards total transparency and are actively taking steps to further increase transparency.

Open Records

Visit or open records page for more details.

Open Records Resources

Financial Records

The ESD publishes most financial records on this web site. Records available online include: Audits, Budgets, Check Registers, Income Worksheets, Tax Rate Schedules, etc.

Financial Records

Agendas & Meetings

ESD2 uses an E-Meeting system to publish agendas, minutes, and even video recordings of all commissure meetings online.

E-Meeting Site

Steps We’ve Taken to Increase Transparency

• 2015 – Started posting agendas and minuets to website
• 2017 – Started posting check register and budget to website
• 2019 – Started posting live incident data to website from ResponseMaster
• 2020 – Started Live Streaming Meetings
• 2021 – Implemented E-Meetings System by Diligent
• 2021 – Rebuilt Web Site with goal of better informing citizens about the ESD
• 2021 – Currently implementing OpenGov to improve transparency of live financial data