On top of a $30,000 Community Initiatives Program (CIP) grant, Busby Volunteer Fire Department raised an estimated $15,000 at their sixth annual Smoke Stompin’ Dinner, Dance and Silent Auction Nov. 18.
More than 250 people turned out to the Busby Hall, which was transformed a dance hall complete with mood lighting and a DJ stand.
Near the start of the event, Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock MLA Glenn van Dijken presented the $30,000 CIP grant, which will be used to put the finishing touches on the department’s Attack 6, a vehicle originally donated by the province in 2015.
Busby deputy chief Dean Dumbeck noted that this grant matched the funds raised by the Busby Volunteer Fire Department Society over the past year, including the 2016 dance.
“This matching grant doubles what our dance, the Blue Suede Festival and our ditch cleaning fundraising efforts bring in,” he said.
Improvements to Attack 6 will be covered by the provincial grant, including putting a storage box on the back, adding emergency lighting and decals and giving it a fresh coat of paint. New flashlights and radios are also covered by the grant.
Dumbeck said he was already working on next year’s grant application.
“It’s a nine-month to year-long process,” he said. “There’s only about two or three intakes a year and you have to have all your ducks in a row. We have to have a whole bunch of stuff ready, including letters of support from the community, financial statements, bank statements, quote and our matching funds have to be in the bank before we even apply.”
It should be stressed that the community’s fundraising efforts are essential to the fire department’s operations. Dumbeck noted that without the support the department receives, they wouldn’t have close to the resources they have available for their work.
“Without that money, we wouldn’t have the fire hall, we wouldn’t have Engine 6 or Response 6, our vehicle station or Attack 6. It would just take us too long to get ahold of anything.”
With Attack 6 fully equipped, Dumbeck said the fire department was finally in a position that it could step back and look at its operation as a whole instead of simply making sure all the individual parts were functioning.
Next on Busby Fire Department’s agenda is more fine-tuning. A few tweaks may be needed for Tender 6, which the county acquired for the department last summer, but so far they aren’t looking at any major purchases.
“We’ll be working on painting, decals, small stuff like that,” he said. “Things like that mean the county doesn’t have to cover those costs. We’re happy to help the county because the county helped us.”
