There is one thing the West Ridge Fire Department in Millcreek banks on, every year. It's a mailing to the homes of people the department serves.

Veteran West Ridge Firefighter Jim Rosenbaum says, "We've got a robust fund drive here."

How robust?

Rosenbaum says, "We're over $300,000 for a year, typically."
He says the mailing gets sent out several times during the year, and it is what typically brings in money to pay all the departments, bills.


Rosenbaum says, "It pays for our paid staff. it pays for our apparatus. It pays for our personal protective equipment, which is very expensive, probably about $5,000 a set for each individual."

The roughly 40 volunteer and 21 part time West Ridge staff typically go out on about 2,000 calls a year. The Covid-19 pandemic has prompted cuts on the calls they go out on.

"We in conjunction with the Millcreek paramedic service, looked at the types of calls we were going out on and we cut back on scene of the one's it wasn't really necessary we provided them with assistance. It helped up produce any potential exposure to any pathogens," says Rosenbaum.

This year the calls are estimated being down by about 500 the same year the fire department is celebrating 80 years of service.

For now,  the hope is that the community continues to support the department in its only form of funding, for operational expenses.