When the City of Houston annexed Kingwood in 1996, the city acquired four stations held by the Kingwood Volunteer Fire Department (VFD). The stations acquired were numbered by the city from 101 to 104. Before the annexation, the department had up to 80 paid and volunteer firefighters and twelve pieces of equipment. After annexation the city added one more fire station. Mike Byers, a Kingwood resident quoted in the "Houston Chronicle" and the president of the Humble Area Chamber of Commerce, said that because many of the volunteer fire department members were friends and neighbors of Kingwood residents, the Kingwood residents had difficulty with the loss of the VFD and the city taking the money. He added that many of the new staff of the emergency services stations were not familiar with Kingwood, and some were unable to find certain locations, leading to slow response times and 11 deaths. As of 2006 Byers says that the City of Houston now provides fair emergency services to Kingwood residents.