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On Saturday of the house tour weekend, the Washington Volunteer Fire Department cleared $90 from cider sales.
It’s a respectable return on five hours of labor from four or five volunteers who gave free blood pressure checks in between their shifts at the old fashioned hand press but just a drop in the bucket compared to the company’s financial need.
The Washington Volunteer Fire Department and the rest of the county’s fire and rescue organizations are desperate. They need personnel and they need money from the communities they’ve volunteered to serve.
Washington is probably in the worst financial state of all with $6,000 in bills and only a few hundred dollars in the bank. The WVFD faces a cash flow problem of staggering proportions.
The department does have assets which far exceed its debts, providing insurance for creditors that it won’t default on loans. But to turn those assets into cashs, the firemen must sell their building and equipment, disbanding the fire company.
The WVFD needs between $10,000 and $15,000 annually just to keep running. Expenses include payments on a $30,000 mortgage, gas bills for vehicles which almost get gallons to the mile instead of miles to the gallon and tremendously high insurance bills for vehicles, buildings and personnel.
As an example of the premiums fire companies must pay, it cost the Amissville Volunteer Fire Department almost $5,000 to reinstate coverage after fire partially destroyed the company’s building several months ago.l?)
Not a single company in the county has much new equipment. The price is prohibitive. And with second-hand trucks come maintenance bills. Heating the buildings adds another couple thousand to operating expenses. While the thermostats can be turned down, they can’t be turned off.
It is a necessity—not a luxury—to keep the buildings warm and prevent the water in the pumpers from freezing.
Costs of smaller pieces of equipment add up with running gear amounting to between $400 and $500 per person. Each truck carries more than 1,000 feet of hose, an item which wears out frequently and must be replaced for about $350 per 50 foot section.
On the other side of the ledger, using 1979-80 as an example, the WVFD collected about $2,000 in its annual fund drive plus another $1,000 in contributions interspersed throughout the year. The pick-up truck project brought in $1,000, the bull roast another $1,000, the benefit Redskin basketball game $700, July Fourth activities $1,800 and the shooting match $1,000. In addition, the town contributes $500.
From the county comes payment of bills for Culpepers dispatch service and the radio assessment along with a donation of $1,000 to the
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