MO Firefighters Use First Responder Fundraising Site for Facility

A Missouri volunteer fire department is raising money for a new building to house its pieces apparatus, and they've received a bit of out-of-state help to get their fundraising off the ground.

When Cardwell Fire Chief Brandon Cupp was looking at ways to pay for the construction of a new building for the department's fleet, he reached out to firefighters and police officers in New York who had created a new crowdfunding platform aimed at first responders, KAIT-TV reports. Fund the First is designed as a "trusted place" to specifically help firefighters, law enforcement officers, EMS personnel and health care workers "get the support they need, when they need it," the platform says on its website.

Using the Fund the First, the department started a fundraising campaign with a goal of $40,000. Of that goal, $30,000 will be used to build the facility, and the rest will be used for equipment.

Currently, the department's apparatus shed can only hold two of Cardwell's three fire vehicles. A new building would change that, Cupp said.

“Our pumper kind of sits out with the elements,” he told KAIT. “That’s our biggest goal: to get a shed where it’s not being damaged by the snow, ice or rain, anything like that.”

A new facility also would conceivably improve response times. And even though Cardwell only has about 700 residents and the self-funded department's service area is around 40 square miles, those extra seconds can be vital.

“Thirty seconds can save a life,” he told KAIT. "If somebody is in smoke 30 seconds less, we might be able to save the life more. We might be able to save their house if we’re there 30 seconds quicker.”

To donate to the Cardwell Fire Department's new vehicle shed fundraising campaign, go to its page on Fund the First website.