Running a fire department doesn’t come cheap, especially with all the necessary equipment to not only respond to fires and other emergencies, but to also keep the firefighters safe.
Seward Township/Burket Fire & Rescue recently put new self-contained breathing apparatus in service to help with the safety of the firefighters. The equipment is valued at more than $68,000, according to Fire Chief Kevin McSherry.
A Kosciusko REMC Round-Up grant provided $5,000 and paid for two sets of that equipment.
Operation Round-Up is a voluntary program in which KREMC members pool their resources together to help those in need, according to the KREMC website. The concept is simple: each month, KREMC members who have volunteered for the program allow REMC to round up their bill to the next dollar. For example, if a member has an electric bill of $53.86, that bill would be rounded up to $54, with 14 cents being donated to the program. The money is then deposited into the Kosciusko REMC Operation Round-Up fund, held at the Kosciusko County Community Foundation.
A voluntary advisory committee, comprised of KREMC members, meets regularly to review applications for Operation Round-Up grants, and to make grant recommendations.
The remainder of the funds for the equipment – 12 new air packs and 31 bottles – came from Seward Township tax dollars, McSherry said.
“It takes a ton of money to keep a fire department running,” he said. “I want patrons of Seward Township to know that their township board and trustee are doing their best to take care of their residents and we want (the firefighters) to be able to go home to their families.”
The self-contained breathing apparatus was just put in service Wednesday night after the fire department had training on it so everyone knows how to use it.
“By law, we can only use that gear for 10 years and then we have to replace it. At the end of the 10 years, the air packs will need replaced. It just takes a ton of money to run a fire department,” McSherry said.
The department runs approximately 220 calls per year with 28 firefighters.
