SUMNER COUNTY, Tenn. (WTVF) — A Sumner County volunteer fire department that was struggling with broken equipment and flood damage has gotten back on its feet thanks to community support and fundraising efforts.
The Gallatin Volunteer Fire Department was facing a crisis when half of their fire trucks were out of service, creating delays in emergency response times.
"We were dealing with multiple broke down pieces of equipment. It's just at the point of crisis where we need the help to get back to serving out community," Lt. Jason Ditzler said.
The department's struggles began after flood damage and equipment failures left them with limited working vehicles to respond to emergency calls.
With assistance from Sumner County funds, the department was able purchase a newer vehicle.
A local nonprofit also stepped in after seeing the original story.
"Chris from Funny for Funds reached out to you at NewsChannel 5 and we were able to connect with them, get everything planned out for the event," Ditzler said.
The nonprofit organized a comedy show fundraiser that raised just under $10,500 to get the department's equipment back in working order.
"So it was just under $10,500," Ditzler said.
Nearly five months after their initial crisis, the Gallatin Volunteer Fire Department will use the money to equip the newer fire truck so they can use it and respond to calls quicker.
Want to see how your community can make a difference? Watch our full video report to learn more about how neighbors came together to save their local fire department, and share your own community success stories with reporter Kim Rafferty at kim.rafferty@NewsChannel5.com.
Have you seen your community come together to help local first responders during a crisis? Share your stories of neighbors helping neighbors, or tell us about volunteer fire departments in your area that might need support. Contact reporter Kim Rafferty at kim.rafferty@NewsChannel5.com and watch our full video to see how the Gallatin community made this rescue happen.
In this article, we used artificial intelligence to help us convert a video news report originally written by Kim Rafferty. When using this tool, both Kim and the NewsChannel 5 editorial team verified all the facts in the article to make sure it is fair and accurate before we published it. We care about your trust in us and where you get your news, and using this tool allows us to convert our news coverage into different formats so we can quickly reach you where you like to consume information. It also lets our journalists spend more time looking into your story ideas, listening to you and digging into the stories that matter.
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