Surplus gear from the Crawfordsville Fire Department will soon make its way to Kentucky as part of tornado relief efforts.
On Wednesday, the Crawfordsville Board of Public Works & Safety voted to declare several fire department items as surplus so they can be donated to the volunteer fire department in Cayce, Kentucky.
“This is a list of equipment we had in storage that we no longer use,” Fire Chief Scott Busenbark told the board. “It (the Kentucky fire station) was leveled, the gentlemen I talked to said they just have a concrete slab now and any help we could give would be appreciated. So, we have this all boxed up and ready to ship as soon as it is declared surplus.”
Some of the items on the list include three sets of turn out gear (coats, pants, boots, helmet, gloves, hood, flashlight), poles, nozzles, wrenches, sledgehammer, axes and a hook.
According to media reports, the Cayce Volunteer Fire Department in western Kentucky was flattened Dec. 10 when a swarm of tornadoes ripped through Fulton County, Kentucky. All the department’s equipment and four fire trucks were a complete loss.
The volunteer department serves around 1,500 people.
“This was a team effort by CFD, Crawfordsville Profesional Firefighters Local 4143, Mayor Todd Barton, Crawfordsville Board of Works and Montgomery County EMA. Because of this, we were able to move quickly and get these supplies where they needed to go,” Busenbark said. “Fire departments in Kentucky are hurting, and this is just a small effort to try and support them with the equipment we have available.”
The gear will be sent down with food, clothing and essential tool donations from the Montgomery County Emergency Management Agency. The gear will be boxed by the Crawfordsville Professional Firefighters Local 4143 before shipping.
In other business, the board:
• Approved an agreement between the city and Invoice Cloud to provide credit card payments in the city’s building department.
• Approved a contract not to exceed $21,000 with the city and American Structurepoint Inc. of Indianapolis to provide a retail gap analysis and retail recruitment strategy.
• Opened bids for the demolition of an unsafe building at 202 Canby Ave. Three bids were received, including W Enterprises of Crawfordsville for $8,920; Crackers Demo of Indianapolis for #11,4112; and DC Hauling and Disposal from Bowling Green, Indiana for $11,500. The bids were tables for review.
• Learned Christmas tree drop-off will be available at the city’s yard waste site on Whitlock Avenue after the holidays. curbside pick up also will be available.
