Politics & Government
Firefighter Fundraising Saves Village $425,000
The Tinley Park Fire Department is all set to receive a new ladder truck in early 2013. The village board approved the move, which is much cheaper than it ordinarily would have been, thanks to our trusty village firefighters.
Regular donations to the will save the village almost a half a million dollars this year.
The Board recently gave the department the go-ahead to buy an $850,000 fire department ladder truck. But thanks to donations to the Tinley Park Fire Department Association, village tax reserves will only spring for half that value, according to a Chicago Tribune story.
The $425,000 thrown in by the fire department will come from its annual dinner dance and fundraising drive which was started more than a century ago.
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While the village's municipal fire department currently employs more than 100 part-time firefighters, it started out as a volunteer operation that relied on residents for financial support. The department has seen many changes since it was chartered in 1901, but the support it gets from the community has seemingly remained the same.
Find out what's happening in Tinley Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
"It kind of goes back, I think, to when they were running a true volunteer fire department and they had to raise money to buy equipment," said firefighter and association president Mike Hughes.
The new truck should arrive in 2013, according to the story.
Read the full report on the Chicago Tribune.
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