A volunteer fire department that had been surviving on equipment from the 1980s just received a half-million dollar gift from a local resident.
First reported by KMBC, the 28 volunteers that staff the Calhoun Fire Department have learned that the job requires a lot more than rescue and first aid skills, it requires a knowledge of how to make running repairs.
With a single engine manufactured in 1980, many of its components have had to be replaced or patched up.
The department takes pride in their work, but a small budget has always held them back from getting the equipment a job like theirs reasonably requires.
“[The department] needed a lot of work,” said recently-appointed Fire Chief Mark Hardin. “Not many of the trucks were in operation. Not many of them ran. Only one ran at the time.”
Seeing this, a 91-year-old resident named Sam Sloan who is awfully good at making money, but admits he knows nothing about fixing fire engines, wanted to help. He had invested in the structure of Henry County before, but this is the largest philanthropic gesture he’s ever undertaken.
The gift has been transformational, Hardin said.
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“Never in a million years would I ever expect anything like that for a rural fire department. In March of this year, at the end of our first quarter, we had $169 left in our bank account.”
Hardin says the money should allow them to buy three new fire engines or trucks, and new equipment for all of their volunteers. The existing gear such as coats, hard hats, and other tools are almost all from the 1980s and 90s.
WATCH the story below from KMBC…
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