On July 28, the Coldenham Fire District lost a majority of its vehicles and equipment after a structural fire ravaged its station. Earlier this month, the fire department received a major donation: a 1992 KME Renegade Pumper from the Charlestown Fire Company in Maryland. The Coldenham fire commissioners, with help from Quality Towing, transported the truck from Charleston, Maryland to Coldenham, New York on September 9, bringing immense joy to the hamlet’s firefighters.

Immediately following the fire, numerous agencies across the country reached out to the Coldenham FD to lend a helping hand. One of these agencies was the Charlestown FC, whose members offered to donate one of their trucks. Coldenham’s fire commissioners were interested in the offer and spoke with the Charlestown’s members near the start of this month. On September 9, the commissioners drove down to Charlestown, inspected the pumper, and towed it back to their hamlet. Coldenham firefighters were overjoyed with receiving a fire truck after their original ones were scorched.

“Members of the Charlestown Fire Company originally reached out to us not long after the fire, though their call got lost in communication with everything that was going on. They reached out again around the beginning of the month, and our commissioners spoke with them over the next few days,” said Coldenham Fire Chief Matthew Hunt on September 21. “We drove down to Maryland at 6 o’clock in the morning, checked the truck, and came back. Quality Towing went with us and towed the truck up here for us.”

“The truck will go into service once we get the rigging and some preventative maintenance done on it, to make sure everything is up to snuff,” he continued. “We’ll have a piece of fire suppression equipment that we can say is ours again. Right now, the only vehicles that we own that weren’t damaged in the fire are the chief’s vehicle, the pickup truck, and our six wheeler.

Aside from the pumper, the Coldenham FD received two rental trucks: an engine from the Walden FD and a tanker from the Walker Valley FD. The department has also received various equipment, including radios from the Circleville FD, a hose from the Monroe FD, and another hose from the Sparrowbush FD. Between the donations from other fire departments and overwhelming support from the surrounding community, Coldenham firefighters are feeling very confident about rebuilding from July’s fire.

“Like anything else, it’s going to take time. It’s similar to losing your house in a fire; we lost our house in a fire,” Chief Hunt said on September 21. “We have to go through all the insurance stuff and replacement pricing. Once we have those things, we can start rebuilding. We then have to go through the permitting process and everything else.”