The Duffee Volunteer Fire Department held a brief ceremony Saturday morning to accept a $10,000 grant from the State Farm Good Neighbor Firefighter Safety Program.
Surrounded by volunteers, family, community members, and local officials, Fire Chief Johnathan Skinner accepted the check from local State Farm Insurance Agent and fellow DVFD volunteer Josh Sanders.
“Our firefighters are dedicated to answering the call, no matter the hour or circumstance. Ensuring they have the right equipment and tools is essential to keeping them safe and effective on the job,” said Skinner. “This generous support from State Farm and the National Volunteer Fire Council will help us better protect both our responders and our community.”
Chief Skinner also thanked the Duffee community for their continued support for the department.
“Without the support of the community, the department would not be here”
The Duffee Volunteer Fire Department was the very first volunteer fire department that was formed as a rural fire department in the county back in 1984. It’s located in the northeast corner of Newton County and serves approximately 65 square miles of the county, with a population of over 2,000.
Chief Skinner said that around 30% of the departments calls last year were brush and wildland fire calls, so his department will be using the $10,000 grant to purchase wildland firefighting equipment to enhance their ability to respond to the increased numbers of wildland fires in Duffee community, as well as surrounding communities.
“We’ve been blessed this year not to have as many wildfires, even as dry as it’s been as of late,” said Skinner. “But last year we had more than twenty wildfire related calls. The Mississippi Foresty Commission has been stressed with fighting so many wildland fires, and with the new equipment, we’ll be able to better assist them in fighting these fires.”
This is the second year of the State Farm Good Neighbor Firefighter Safety Program. In collaboration with the National Volunteer Fire Council, State Farm has awarded $1.5 million in grants to 150 volunteer fire departments in 44 states to help them obtain needed equipment to increase their responders’ safety, effectiveness and ability to serve the community.
Chief Skinner said grants, as well as donations from the community, are help tremendously in the everyday upkeep of their fire department.
“Most of the funds that it takes to run the fire department is through donations, fundraisers, and grants,” said Skinner. “Our county is gracious enough to keep us a good high class pumper truck to use, but maintenance, insurance for the building, utilities, everything comes from what our community donates and through grants. We’ve been blessed. Grants such as this really do help us out and boost our capabilities.”
