Equipment Donations
Many fire and rescue departments in the U.S. are under funded and volunteer-based. Additionally, many wildfire fighters are volunteers, and need to supply much of their own equipment.
To assist these groups, a percentage of our funds is used to donate much needed tools and safety equipment to them.
As in any profession, there are often much-needed tools that budgets simply don’t provide for. Unlike most professions, however, the consequences of firefighting and rescue personnel not having these critical items can have tragic results. The donation program is designed to help our country’s professionals do their job better and more safely, thus helping to save the both their lives and those of citizens.
All fire departments in the United States are eligible for an FSF equipment donation and can apply by downloading this form. Application submissions will be acknowledged promptly.
Click here to open the FSF Equipment Donation Request form in Microsoft Word format. After it is open, save the file onto your personal computer and print it out. Fill out the form completely and mail it to the Firefighters Support Foundation, PO Box 1075, Greenfield, MA 01302.
Latest Grants
The Scotts Hill, TN Volunteer Fire Department serves 3.3 square miles of rural land in the southwestern part of the state. Many times they've had to return to a fire they thought was a completely extinguished fire because it had rekindled. For this reason, and for the firefighter safety benefits provided by a thermal imager, FSF was glad to provide the funds to purchase this equipment.
Thermal imagers are now critical to have in all fire departments because they allow firefighters to "see into" a structure in spite of darkness, smoke, and heat. According to a recent analysis based on 377 Firefighters Fatality reports by the National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH) lack of a thermal imager is often a factor when a firefighter suffers a fatality at a structure fire.*
A CO-Oximeter measures the level of carbon monoxide in a firefighter's blood. This vital piece of equipment allows on-scene fire officers to determine if a firefighter has been exposed to dangerous amounts of this deadly gas. It is also a critical piece of equipment when EMTs respond to a medical call where carbon monoxide exposure is a factor. The Greenfield Fire department serves the county seat of the most rural county in the state, and is often called upon to assist at major fires throughout the region. They needed a CO-Oximeter and FSF was happy to assist.
Defibrillator units are now commonplace equipment in rescue organizations, but they are expensive. Hampton Fire Company No. 1 hadn't been able to acquire these vital tool and couldn't afford to buy them. With this grant from FSF, they were able to add significant life-saving capability to their trucks.
The Maryland Emergency Medical Services Program provides EMS support services to the entire state of Maryland. They needed radios and repeaters for their own internal team communications, to communicate with Online Medical Control, and to communicate with other EMS agencies. FSF was glad to help in this effort.
In order to provide services covering 83 square miles, Barnesville FD's staff includes 40 firefighters and EMTs including one full-time person. The department was unable to take advantage of much of the training material it receives from the Ohio State Fire Academy - much of it critical to their staff's safety - without having the right equipment to train a large group. Their new projector, screen, and presentation computer will also let them use FSF's training in a group format.
This small department in the county seat of Perry County near Harrisburg has to generate its revenue from its Basic Life Support (BLS) services billings and rely on fundraising and grants to meet the rest of its needs. It needed a set of generators and lights for its frequent night time rescues, basic pieces of equipment no agency should be without.
Clarysville is located in Allegheny County in western Maryland,. The fire department needs to respond to many emergency calls in deeply wooded, rough-terrain areas. They have frequently had to borrow privately-owned ATVs to reach injured citizens because they did not have a properly equipped ATV of their own. With their own ATV, the fire department can respond more quickly, and provide enhanced emergency care with greater safety for everyone involved.
This 150 person, almost all-volunteer fire department and EMS service serves a county of 68,000. The agency simply could not afford to properly equip all of its personnel with the safest turn-out gear, and our grant helped them in this effort.
This department has three substations covering three territories in northern Aroostook County, Maine. U.S. Route 161 runs through the area and car accidents are common. The agency needed an extrication strut kit to make auto extrication safe for their firefighters and EMTs.
This department serves a township in northeastern Minnesota. They needed to outfit their force with appropriate leather firefighting boots to fight wildland fires, because their rubber structure boots don't work well in that environment. FSF was glad to help.
This all-volunteer fire department has 47 firefighters. Some members had been using out-of-date and non-compliant gear thus risking their safety. The FSF grant of $4,500 allowed Douglas County FDP to purchase modern turnout gear meeting NFPA requirements.
The Mexia Fire Department needed funds to purchase fire safety presentation materials for their safety program for the city's children. (Over 30% of Mexia's population is under the age of 18.) For such a good cause - improving the safety of one of the groups most vulnerable to harm from fire,-FSF was only too glad to help.