An anonymous donation to the New Ipswich Fire Fighters Association last week provided enough funds to purchase new protective hoods.
“We got a phone call at the fire station that said, ‘Please give me a call regarding the hoods,’” Fire Chief Meredith Lund said. She had been planning on asking taxpayers for $1,200 this year and a similar amount next year, but the donor covered the cost of new protective hoods for every certified firefighter on the department.
The hoods, which are intended to protect the firefighters from cancer-causing carcinogens, cost $110 apiece, and the donation was a little more than $2,300.
Lund shared the news of the new hoods at the department’s holiday get-together last week.
“We always give them T-shirts and I said, ‘I have another gift for you guys. Every one of you, through an anonymous donation, is being given one of the new carcinogen-protection hoods,’” she said.
“We were all very surprised when we got the news of the donation,” said Lt. Cody Vaillancourt. “It’s another step to help keep our firefighters safe. We couldn’t be more thankful for the generous offer.”
Vaillancourt oversees new equipment for the department and researched new hoods after studies revealed the current hoods don’t protect firefighters from carcinogens. A few of the fire department members have the new hoods from another donation that was made to the New Ipswich Fire Fighters Association earlier this year.
Lund said large and small donations are meaningful, especially during the holidays.
“Outreach from the community, little kids with cookies or an anonymous donor who read an article and said ‘I think this is important,’— it just means a lot, because sometimes you feel like you’re out there doing your job and people just expect it. To know people think about you during the holidays is really cool.” she said.
The new hoods are already on order, and Lund hopes they will come in as soon as the order gets filled.
“As long as there’s no backlog, we will get them and I’ll share on Facebook when we do,” she said.
The hoods don’t require any additional training since they are replacing the old ones.
“This is the perfect time of year for the new hoods,” said Lund. “With chimney fires especially, because that’s the kind of stuff that gets down the back of your neck.”