The Milford Volunteer Fire Department has begun fundraising for updates to its trucks and equipment and is gearing up to host more events in the new year.
Early in 2023, the American Rescue Plan Act allowed fire departments to apply for grants of up to $125,000 per department to go toward ambulance updates. The MVFD requested and secured money to improve an ambulance that needs to be remounted on a new chassis, but each department only received $50,000 due to high demand.
The department will have to come up with the rest of the money for the improvements, which Rescue Chief Troy Pickerill said will cost about $185,000. The department has until fall of 2026 to raise the money and still receive the ARPA funds.
Pickerill said the department tries to rotate its ambulances out every 10 years, but it can be difficult to do so due to funding.
The current chassis on the ambulance in question is the 2006 Ford model, and the department hopes to update it to the 2025 edition with the help of the ARPA grant.
“It’s an older truck, and maintenance gets to be a big issue. There’s more money that we’re having to put into the truck, while a new truck will have some warranty,” he said. “We already had to put a new engine into that truck.”
MVFD Safety Officer Wayne Stohlmann said that although ambulances are expensive to run, the MVFD does not charge to transport people to hospitals because it knows a lot of people can’t afford a large bill after an ambulance ride.
However, this means the department sometimes needs donations to keep everything up and running.
The department also applied for a $50,000 ARPA grant for equipment upgrades, but, like many departments across the state, was denied. However, Pickerill said some departments that received the funding are having trouble finding money to continue with their upgrades, so some of the equipment grant money may be reallocated.
The MVFD plans to reapply for the grant if the reallocation passes through the legislature.
If the department secures the grant, it plans to purchase equipment that may include new cardiac defibrillators, LUCAS automated CPR machines, electric stretchers and stretcher loading systems.
The MVFD recently held two gun raffles to help raise money for their upgrades. Stohlmann said the department gets the guns at a discount from Scheels in Lincoln, spends about $10,000 on them for each show and makes about $20,000 in ticket sales.
The department also plans to hold its annual pancake feed fundraiser, which Stohlmann said has been going on since before he joined the MVFD 28 years ago, toward the beginning of spring.
The department is working on plans for more fundraising events and encourages anyone who has ideas to share them.
Stohlmann said serving on the MVFD is an important responsibility, and there is a lot that goes into making everything work. All of it is worth it in order to help others.
“I think the most gratifying thing for me is that you’d be surprised how many elderly people that, when you take care of them and get them in the ambulance, all they want to do is hold your hand all the way up to the hospital,” Stohlmann said.
Pickerell, (402) 641-6034, and Stohlmann, (402) 432-9101, said people who have fundraising ideas or are interested in making a donation are welcome to reach out to them.
