Fire department seeks community help

The Belgium Fire Department has had success in fundraising when appealing directly to the community — once raffling off a house to help pay for a $200,000 fire truck — and it is hoping for similar results with its latest initiative.

The department, a private volunteer organization that serves the village and town of Belgium, is asking residents of both municipalities to help pay for self-contained breathing apparatuses (SCBAs).

In a letter to town and village officials, Second Assistant Fire Chief Chris Schmidt said the department’s SCBAs are “becoming outdated” and that “parts are hard to come by because they are not being manufactured anymore.”

Last year, the department spent $5,000 to repair face pieces and expects to spend about $2,000 more on air bottles that have fallen out of compliance.

At last fall’s annual Fire Department budget meeting, attended by village and town elected officials, Fire Chief Dan Birenbaum said the department’s air packs are nearly 20 years old and their displays and speakers aren’t working well.

He said he wasn’t sure how long the packs will meet National Fire Protection Association standards and didn’t recommend spending $30,000 to upgrade packs that are near the end of their lifespan.

The department bought the packs in 2002 through a Federal Emergency Management grant. Recent grant requests from the department were turned down.

Town Chairman Tom Winker suggested hiring a professional grant writer, but Birenbaum said inquiries to those weren’t returned.

The department suggested approaching taxpayers via the mail to ask for support and referenced the house raffle that paid for a new truck. Taxpayers only paid for equipment on the vehicle.

“It didn’t cost the taxpayers a lot of money to buy a new truck,” Birenbaum said.

The total cost for the packs is $165,000. The Fire Department is slated to pay $55,000 while the town would pay $63,228 and the village $46,827. The municipalities’ split is determined by their equalized values.

Birenbaum said the packs are important.

“That’s how we breathe,” he said.

The department hopes to buy the packs sometime next year.

While it may save money, the campaign, he said, is “a lot of work for the department and it’s a drain on our membership.”

In Schmidt’s letter to elected officials, he said, “Besides all of the training hours and calls that members attend, they will be putting in extra time to make this fundraising campaign successful.”

Funding may continue to be a challenge. Next year, the department is slated to replace a 2002 ambulance at an estimated cost of $230,000, according to its equipment schedule.

Finances aren’t the only issue facing the department. Like many volunteer departments in the area, it is struggling to draw new members. Many current members are aging and younger people are needed to eventually replace them.

To that end, the Belgium and Cedar Grove fire departments have teamed up to launch a junior firefighter program that trains teens 14 to 17 years old. Four signed up, bringing the total number of the Belgium Fire Department Explorers to 11.

For more information, contact Belgium Assistant Fire Chief Pat Wester at (920) 980-2522 or pgwester72@gmail.com.