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Donations to Victor Fire Department pay off bank loan for new station

Posted at 5:55 PM, Dec 05, 2018
and last updated 2018-12-05 19:55:28-05

VICTOR – The Victor Fire Department has been trying to move into a new building ever since they applied for a federal grant in 2009. A bank loan helped them purchase a building suitable for a fire department, but the community helped them pay back that loan and then some.

The old Victor Fire Department building is starting to show its age and conditions inside are a little cramped. But thanks to help from the community a new building is right around the corner with a little more space inside.

“We were able to purchase this building in October when all the decisions were finalized and everything was put together. At that time we borrowed some money from a local bank to get us into the building,” Victor Fire Department Chief Scott Hackett said. “We had a final push for some more fundraising and with that fundraising we were able to complete the project which included paying off the bank and still having enough money to finish the necessary changes we needed to do.”

The bank loan was for $200,000 but as of today the community has raised around $400,000, and donations keep coming in.

“I want to emphasize the community support everybody’s money was important, so it’s been a whole bunch of little donations that just kept adding up and we are still getting little donations coming in,” Hackett said. “You know some of those donations are for five dollars and some of them were a lot greater. Doesn’t matter to us, they are all important to us and they all contribute to that figure in the end.”

All the communities donations helped get the fire department to this point and a couple of donations were in the five-figure range, including someone who had called on the fire department for help in the past.

“They had actually been visiting with me for quite awhile. Normal people we had a call out there at their place we provided a service for them. In fact, the last comment I got from them was that they enjoyed riding on a fire truck when we had our last tour of the fire house,” Hackett said.

From producing model trains to housing fire engines this buildings transformation is a testament to the work of the Victor Volunteer Fire Department and the community that supported them through the whole process.

Hackett said that they don’t need to do much work to the building to turn it into a fire station.

To convert the building new bay doors will be put in the back and side of the building to get fire engines and other vehicles in and out.