Scott Safety pledges $10,000 to NVFC

National Volunteer Fire Council

GREENBELT, Md. — Scott Safety has pledged $10,000 to the National Volunteer Fire Council’s (NVFC) Volunteer Firefighter Support Fund. The donation will go to help firefighters impacted by severe disasters such as Hurricane Sandy. The fund provides stipends of $250 to help firefighters meet basic needs in the wake of a federally- or state-declared disaster.

“We are grateful for this generous contribution from Scott Safety and their continued support of the fire and emergency services,” said NVFC Executive Director Heather Schafer. “We have received over a hundred requests for assistance from volunteer first responders whose homes were destroyed or damaged by Sandy. Thanks to support from individuals and organizations like Scott Safety, we are able to provide assistance to those in need.”

The NVFC Volunteer Firefighter Support Fund relies entirely on the support of individuals and organizations to assist volunteer first responders in need. The NVFC donates all administrative costs associated with the fund, so 100% of contributions go to help volunteer first responders impacted by disaster. With Super Storm Sandy, the fund was receiving more requests than it could fulfill, but generous donations from Scott Safety, the Firemen’s Association of the State of New York (FASNY), and individuals have enabled the NVFC to meet the demand.

“Communities rely on volunteer first responders to be there in their hour of need, and it is important that we can be there when the firefighters and emergency workers are the ones who need our help,” Schafer said. “Since we started the fund in 2005, we have been able to distribute half a million dollars to help volunteers who have been impacted by tragedy.”

To qualify for assistance from the Volunteer Firefighter Support Fund, individuals must be from an NVFC member state as an individual or department member of the state association; be an active volunteer firefighter, rescue worker, or EMS provider; live or have housing in a state- or federally-declared disaster area; and have incurred an uninsurable loss in excess of $5,000.

In addition to donating to the Volunteer Firefighter Support Fund, Scott Safety has donated 30 Air-Pak SCBA’s to the Point Breeze Volunteer Fire Department and two other neighboring Volunteer Departments in Breezy Point, NY, and will also be donating 20 Air-Paks to an affected fire department in New Jersey. Breezy Point, a community largely populated by firefighters and police officers, was hit especially hard by Super Storm Sandy. At the same time Sandy’s storm surge was causing flooding, the town was hit by one of New York’s worst residential fires in 150 years. In all, 111 houses were lost in the fire, and many more were ruined or damaged by wind and flood waters. The donation of the Air-Paks will help the department start rebuilding.