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Volunteer Firefighter Rodger Bancroft looks at loose ceiling tiles at the Chesterfield Volunteer Fire Department. The department is currently holding a fundraiser to buy needed equipment, but Bancroft said it won’t be much longer before the old station will need a complete overhaul. -
Volunteer firefighter Rodger Bancroft is interviewed at the Chesterfield Volunteer Fire Department. The department is currently holding a fundraiser to buy needed equipment, but Bancroft said it won’t be much longer before the old station will need a complete overhaul. -
The upstairs meeting room at the Chesterfield Volunteer Fire Department in Chesterfield. The room has crooked floors, loose ceiling tiles, and no air conditioning. -
Stacks of bottled water sit at the Chesterfield Volunteer Fire Department. The station does not have safe drinking water, requiring volunteers to drink bottled and filtered water. -
The single bathroom at the Chesterfield Volunteer Fire Department. The station lacks a dedicated shower, forcing volunteers to clean their gear and themselves elsewhere after a call. Typically, most choose to wash off at their homes, bringing sometimes harmful soot and debris with them. -
Volunteer Firefighter Rodger Bancroft explains not having safe drinking water at the Chesterfield Volunteer Fire Department. -
Fire trucks are parked bumper-to-bumper at the Chesterfield Volunteer Fire Department. -
Volunteer Firefighter Rodger Bancroft is interviewed at the Chesterfield Volunteer Fire Department. -
Extra equipment sits in piles at the Chesterfield Volunteer Fire Department.
CHESTERFIELD — When speaking of funding for municipal resources, $11,000 might seem like pennies in a couch. But for the Chesterfield Fire Department, that amount is “a lot” for a department in dire need of new equipment and ultimately a new station.
That’s why the volunteer department has launched a new raffle fundraiser in hopes of raising that amount, says firefighter Rodger Bancroft, who is spearheading the effort.
The raffle is a chance to win a Carnival Cruise voucher and Southwest airline ticket — a $3,100 value which can also be given as a Visa gift card in that amount if the winner chooses.
A name will be drawn after 600 tickets have been sold. Tickets are priced at $25 a piece or five tickets for $100.
Bancroft, one of the station’s six volunteer firefighters who works full time as an electrician, said the fundraiser not only takes pressures off the town’s taxpayers, who pay in the ballpark of $50,000 a year for the department’s total operating budget, but the funds also assist neighboring towns that pool resources.
“We could probably make close to 11 grand or so to buy new equipment that the town doesn’t have to pitch in for,” said Bancroft. “Plus it helps the surrounding towns, because when it’s something this big, we try to buy something that will not just our own town, but the communities around us.”
On the list of must-haves is a new Jaws of Life, a hydraulic rescue tool used to extricate people trapped in vehicles or collapsed structures. The department’s current one requires four people to operate, and a new model would require a single first responder to handle.
Bancroft said the department also aims to upgrade to battery-operated power tools.
“Less manpower, less maintenance, plus, you know, it’s good for the environment,” he said about battery-operated machinery. “And if we do end up going in a situation where we need to get something done in a hurry, these tools would be the ones we’d like to have, instead of trying to fire something up.”
Instead of “using your back and trying to pull and it still won’t start,” battery-powered equipment is ready almost instantly, said Bancroft.
Bancroft said this is the department’s largest fundraiser of the year, and an idea he originally got from a New Jersey fire department. This is the first time the department has done a raffle since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bancroft himself has been on a few cruises in the past, and recommended Aruba, Mexico and Alaska as “really nice” options.
Other fundraising events include an annual pancake breakfast ahead of the town’s Fourth of July parade with vendors from across the region pitching in food and resources. This year 250 were in attendance, and brought in a few thousand dollars.
While the raffle funds will be an immense boost to the town, Bancroft said the department will soon reach a point where it needs a new station. He said the current station, built in 1954, is cramped, unsafe and poses a cancer threat to firefighters.
He explained recruitment is already difficult since volunteer firefighters receive a small stipend for their work that can involve late night calls, early mornings — in addition to the fact that they work full time jobs.
And firefighters are prone to health conditions, including cancer, which has led to less recruitment nationwide, but the Chesterfield station only exacerbates the problem of scaring people away.
One of the most serious short fallings is there is no washer and dryer, said Bancroft, which means members of the volunteer department have to store their dirty gear in their cars and wash their uniforms at home. The department has a washer and dryer, still in the box but they cannot be installed because the town’s water line outside isn’t sufficient, Bancroft said.
“We have all this soot on us, which is disgusting, and we’re bringing that home,” he said.
His wife Celeste said, “He comes home smelling smokey — not a good barbecue smoke.”
All these conditions, not to mention peeling ceiling tiles and a warped floor that tilts on the second floor, can be seen in a recent video put together by the town using $10,000 in District Local Technical Assistance funds from the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission.
He hopes that the state takes inventory of the conditions and could potentially respond with a grant.
“Schools get grants all the time,” he said. “I understand these kids need their place, but we are dealing with cancer — we wear it, we breathe it, we smell it.”
Samuel Gelinas can be reached at sgelinas@gazettenet.com.
