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 FSF's 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 grant and can apply by downloading this form
SPECIAL NOTE IF YOU NEED TURNOUT GEAR AND CAN TAKE ADVANTAGE OF USED GEAR: We occasionally get requests from departments wanting to donate their used equipment to us so that we can then donate it to other departments in need of it. We are not set up to do this, however if you have equipment to donate or would like to receive usable but used gear, please visit Fire Dog Services This website is set up to act as a recipient of used fire equipment and to find suitable departments that will be happy to have it.
Latest Grants
The Battle Creek Community Fire Department of 21 volunteers serves a small rural community in western Iowa. The Department responds to a variety of emergencies involving fires, vehicles, ice and water rescue, and storms. Most of their calls are in the late evening and night hours so reliable lighting is critical.
The Department’s flashlights were almost 20 years old and internal corrosion was causing the batteries to drain until weak or dead. Firefighters couldn’t count on having the lighting they required for emergencies. Now, with an FSF grant, the firefighters are safer with dependable lighting provided by new rechargeable flashlights available in Department vehicles.
The Bendersville Community Fire Department is located in south-central Pennsylvania 40 miles north of Gettysburg. Their service area includes rural mountainous terrain with limited accessibility where they routinely respond to fires and rescues without having the appropriate equipment. To increase safety and effectiveness, they set a goal of acquiring and outfitting an all-terrain firefighting/rescue vehicle.
With contributions from the US Smokeless Tobacco Company, the Emergency Health Services Federation, the local Tim Kline Foundation, and their community; the Company acquired and set up an all-terrain vehicle with trailer. They still needed an attached skid unit to complete the project. With this unit, the Company can securely carry a rescue victim on a stretcher out of a remote area. The skid can also transport firefighting equipment into otherwise inaccessible terrain. The grant from FSF enabled the Company to purchase the skid and complete this critical safety project.
The all-volunteer Oakland/Mapleville Fire Department, serves a community located in a densely populated section of Rhode Island. They couldn't afford gas detection equipment. In responding to emergencies, they had to wait until the equipment arrived from several miles away to find out if first responders would be exposed to toxic gases or if there was danger of an explosion. They also needed equipment to monitor carbon monoxide blood levels of first responders and emergency victims in time to prevent serious injury. Now, using the FSF grant, the FD can purchase equipment to reduce these dangers and increase firefighter, EMS, and community safety.
Webster FD7 serves a 70 square mile area in rural Louisiana, and like nearly all departments it is short on funds for needed equipment, including most critically, equipment and instruments that directly keep firefighters safe from injury. This FSF grant allowed the district to purchase three multigas detectors for air monitoring at emergency scenes. Toxic gases such as hydrogen sulfide and carbon monoxide, join combustible gases among the most common and insidious threats that firefighters face.
Louisville is as rural community in central Mississippi with concentrated agricultural and lumber industries. Wildland fires are not an unusual occurrence there, yet like many rural communities, funds are in very short supply--even the basics like appropriate nozzles and hoses for fighting these fires. This FSF grant helped Louisville FD to keep a baseline capability for aiding its citizens during these events.
The Atwood Fire Hose Company is an all-volunteer organization providing fire and EMS support within the Village of Wauregan. The residences in the village are mainly older multi-story homes with narrow corridors and staircases. This FSF grant enables the company to purchase a piece of equipment that will considerably reduce injuries to personnel carrying patients in these confines.
The members of the Wheelwright VFD were running into entanglement hazards with all the new information technology cables and wires run through attics and other spaces, and needed rescue tools to sever them if encountered. Kentucky is also home to some of the worst illegal methamphetamine labs in the country, and responses to these labs represent a very serious hazard to firefighters. The gas monitors that they were able to buy with this FSF grant will help to keep the men and women of the Wheelwright VFD safe on these calls.
In this picture, Chief Scotty Ray is showing Firefighter Jeff Craft how to use the new gas detection units.
Township FD is an all-volunteer rural department with 112 active members. Located about 90 miles east of the twin cities, the department is putting a focus on firefighter rehabilitation. They needed two CO Pulse Oximetery meters in order to keep their firefighters safe at fire scenes. With this FSF grant, they were able to afford them.
Pine Level is an unincorporated community situated as a northern suburb of Montgomery, in one of the fastest growing counties in Alabama. The growth in Pine Level is outpacing their funding, and the FD's calls for service has doubled in the last several years. The fire department very much needed two gas monitors and calibration equipment. With this grant from FSF, they were able to acquire them.
Allendale is a small town in southeast Illinois. Like any fire department, they need the ability to computerize building information, structure fire plans, HAZMAT incident protocols, and other planning information relevant to their jurisdiction. It is impossible for a fire department to effectively perform their central functions without such equipment.
ARFPD was short the funds for a ruggedized laptop and asked FSF for assistance. FSF was glad to help. Here the ruggedized laptop is shown installed and ready for duty
Morristown is a community of 5,000 in south central Arizona. They needed, but had trouble affording, Class A foam in order to be prepared for the inevitable wildland fires in their area. Ironically, it is the large amounts of recent rainfall that have made the problem more severe, since the rain has caused tremendous plant growth. Class A foam is used to enhance the effectiveness of water in fire fighting and thus increases fire fighter safety.
Hargetts Crossroads is a small town in eastern north Carolina. Like many small communities, they are cash-strapped and what government grants were available for the fire department were used on actual fire fighting equipment. Yet training for firefighters is both a critical safety need and one that's mandated. With this FSF grant, the Hargetts Crossroads VFD will be able to make use of current training materials and effectively increase firefighter safety.
The Roscoe-Rockland Volunteer Fire Department is a rural district in the Catskill Mountains that responds to more than its fair share of emergencies. As a result of comprehensive risk assessment, the fire department identified the need for bail-out systems for interior firefighters as a pressing need. Indeed, New York has a requirement for fire departments to provide such equipment to firefighters.
Because of the weak economy, and the pressures on municipal budgets, the fire department was unable to afford these critical safety items on their own. With FSF assistance, they are now in addressing the state's requirement and their firefighters are safer when fighting interior fires.
The Downriver Volunteer Fire Department is located in far northern California and serves four communities along the Trinity River, with a total service area of 70 square miles. They rely almost entirely on donations to fund their department. Their turnout gear was old and no longer met current standards, and needed to be replaced. With FSF's help, they were able to outfit several of their firefighters.
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.