COLUMBUS, OH - Two volunteer fire departments in Pike County have received fire-fighting equipment through the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Forestry. The Beaver Volunteer Fire Department received a 1987 Ford F-350 four-wheel drive crew cab pickup truck with an original value of $10,000. The Pebble Township Volunteer Fire Department received an air compressor unit with an original value of $3,800.
The division provided the equipment at no charge through the Federal Excess Personal Property program.
“This program helps local fire officials obtain important fire-fighting equipment that their limited budgets might not otherwise permit,” said John Dorka, chief of the Division of Forestry. “The budget for a typical Ohio rural volunteer fire department is $35,000 per year, with some fire departments operating on $10,000 or less.”
Items obtained through the federal program are provided to local fire departments under a loan agreement. When the equipment is no longer useable or desired, the fire department must return it to the ODNR Division of Forestry for disposal or reassignment.
Since July 1996, local fire departments in Ohio have acquired more than $7 million of equipment through the program, including fire engines, tanker trucks, pick-up trucks, vans, portable generators and pumps, compressors, hoses, nozzles, protective clothing and other safety equipment.
The Division of Forestry currently has cooperative wildfire suppression agreements with 325 fire departments located within the division’s fire protection area, including eastern and southeastern Ohio, and the Maumee State Forest area of northwestern Ohio. Fire departments interested in the program should contact Rick Maier at 740-773-1574.