Glade Records Officer Jim Etzel, left, and Fire Chief Howard Robb pose next to the donation tracker displayed on Peavine Road.

By HOWARD ROBB

For The Vista

As the Fire Chief of the Fairfield Glade Volunteer Fire Department, I would like to say thank you to our Board of Directors, residents, time share visitors and local businesses that helped with their generous donations toward the replacement of our Engine #5.

In this day and age, in our tough economy, a lot of volunteer fire departments are struggling to find the funding to purchase necessary firefighting equipment to keep their communities protected from fire and other hazards.

Some help can come from grants from the federal government, if approved.

That was how we were able to purchase a Fire Engine a several years ago.  That source of funding has become increasingly difficult to come by in the last several years.

Like many other fire departments, we have had to come up with new ideas in order to purchase new equipment, and now, a replacement for Engine #5.

When we decided to reach out to you our residents and businesses, you embraced us and gave what you could.

We started at our first pancake breakfast in May, 2012 and continued the fund raising through December.  On Christmas day, 2012 we reached our goal of $100,000!

With your generous donations we will now be able to upgrade to a newer fire engine with significantly better firefighting capabilities than old #5.

In fact, we have already begun our search to find #5’s replacement and we will be very careful to get the best value for the money you have donated.

Our goal is to acquire the new engine before the first Pancake Breakfast in May, 2013.

I hope to see you all there so I can personally thank you for your donations.