Town Pump awards $1.2 million in grants to volunteer firefighters

The Town Pump Charitable Foundation has provided grants totaling nearly $1.2 million to 81 volunteer firefighting groups across Montana this summer, including one serving the Whitefish area. 

The total was about $425,000 more than the foundation originally planned to provide, but following an overwhelming response to the grant offer, it increased its grant budget. The grants will be used for a variety of life-saving equipment, including turnouts, self-contained breathing apparatus, rescue equipment, pumps and automated external defibrillators and training. 

In the Whitefish area, the Star Meadows Rural Fire District received $13,000 for rescue struts, an imaging camera and a gas monitor. 

"We appreciate the commitment of volunteer firefighters across Montana,” said Bill McGladdery, director of corporate communications for Town Pump. “Their needs for personal protective equipment, SCBAs, training resources and other equipment were greater than what we had originally forecasted. We hope that these grant funds to volunteer fire departments will help strengthen our Montana communities.”