Message to firefighters, loud and clear
The announcement that the Hillsboro Fire Department will receive a $20,000 grant from Fireman's Fund Insurance is great news for the entire community.
The money will be used to purchase next-generation safety equipment for the city's 18 volunteer firefighters, making it easier for them to breathe, and to communicate more effectively with each other when battling fires. (See story, Pg. 1).
The $20,000 amounts to about half of the fire department's $48,000 annual budget. It allows Fire Chief Ben Steketee to buy the equipment the Hillsboro City Council and Mayor Delores Dalke would like the department to have, but cannot afford to buy.
Chief Steketee reports the city has been "very good" in providing the department with the items it "really needs," such as a thermal imaging unit, a new tanker truck, and other items, as needed.
Because money is tight, the department has been willing to use its current equipment, which is "good enough," the chief said.
We share the same belief as the council and the mayor. If money were no object, then "good enough" would never be good enough when it comes to protect the lives of the fathers, husbands, sons, coworkers, friends, and neighbors — who make up our volunteer brigade.
We're glad the new equipment is coming; but even if it weren't coming, the Hillsboro firefighters would have continued to do their jobs, anyway.
So
To: Chief Ben Steketee, Assistant Chief Todd Helmer, Captain Lowell Foth, Captain Kenny Ollenburger, Murray Koop, Lloyd Spencer, Lyle Isaac, Marty Rader, Jason Rooker, David Lancaster, Mike Duerksen, Joe Alvarez, Ron Toews, Jason Plett, Doug Taylor, Gerald Ollenburger, Rusty Moss, and Randy Welch.
From: The rest of us.
Because you're ready to drop whatever you're doing, we all can breathe easier. We wanted to communicate our thanks to you, loud and clear.
— GRANT OVERSTAKE
