Martinsville Fire Department follows through with help for firefighters impacted by Harvey

Fire chief hand-delivers money department raised last month

MARTINSVILLE, Va. – As Martinsville Fire Chief Ted Anderson sat at his computer Thursday morning, he recounted what he saw over the weekend as he helped volunteer firefighters in Plum Grove, Texas, clean up their community after Hurricane Harvey.

Anderson went to the community to hand-deliver a check for more than $8,100.

"We know we chose the right department that definitely needed the funds," he said.

The money came from a fundraiser Martinsville volunteer firefighters held last month.

Usually, the fire department uses the money for its own needs but the firefighters decided they wanted to give it to a volunteer department in Texas impacted by the hurricane.

Anderson said he wanted to hand-deliver the check to reassure people that the money was actually going to the Plum Grove Volunteer Fire Department.

"People are uncertain anymore when you give to a need that it does go directly to that need," Anderson said. "This was our way of showing that."

The goal of the fundraiser was to raise $5,000.

"When we told people that this is what it was for, even after they had taken change out of their ashtray or money out of their pocket...they would reach in and give more," Anderson said.

Plum Grove Fire Chief Joe Johnson said finding the words to describe his reaction is tough.

"The brotherhood, I mean, the emotions are amazing, overwhelming," Johnson said.

Johnson's fire department was flooded with several feet of water.

Much of the department's gear was washed away or destroyed.

Some of the firefighters even lost their personal vehicles, parking them inside the fire station thinking they would be safe because the department was built above the 100-year flood plain.

"There still is a lot of rebuild that has to happen, a lot of rebuild that's going on," Johnson said.

By not keeping the fundraising money, the Martinsville Fire Department will have to be more frugal with the rest of its money, but Anderson believes giving the money away was the right thing to do.