SUMNER COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — One Sumner County volunteer fire department has built a new fire station to better serve their community, and they need help to cover the cost.

Assistant Fire Chief of the Highland Volunteer Fire Department, Tav Matthews, said that the new station in northwest Sumner County will help increase their response times.

"We see a lot of bad things," Matthews told News 2. "We see, a lot of times, at the darkest times of their life — but we get the ability to help."

The volunteer department covers about a 70-mile area near Portland. These residents put their lives on the line and make sacrifices to help their neighbors.

"They all spend time away from their homes — away from their families. They all have other full-time jobs, so this is a side job that doesn't pay anything," Matthews said. "They do it just because they love helping the community."

The new station presents a new opportunity for the department — and Matthews said it's been a long time in the making.

"It's been about fifteen years or so in the making and we were able to secure funding for it and build a station, but it was also a big project that put us in quite a bit of debt," Matthews added.

Sumner County gives the volunteer department some funding, but Matthews said they rely on donations to help make ends meet.

"We never know what we're going to get year-to-year from the county, so the donations from the public help bridge the gap where county funding doesn't cover operational costs," Matthews said.

Every dollar helps, Matthews added, and said it's well-spent when it helps save lives.

"We want to be good neighbors to our neighbors," Matthews added. "We've got nothing but positive feedback on the efforts we're doing to try to better ourselves for our community and for the county."

You can follow this link to donate to a GoFundMe supporting the department.

News Source : https://www.wkrn.com/news/local-news/volunteer-fire-dept-seeks-donations/