Fire Department Cancels August Boot Drive

Ledyard Fire Department staff and volunteers in the blazing July heat collecting donations Saturday because they knew it would be the last time this summer.

The department traditionally holds three boot drives a summer but this year, Ledyard Fire Chief Steven Daggett canceled the last one, which would have been held in August.

Daggett said "money's tight everywhere" and that he canceled the fundraiser to give residents a break from the fundraising. The department's annual fundraiser in September is still planned. 

Donations pay for "odds and ends we really need to do this job," Daggett said.  

Fireproof pants and jackets, boots, gloves, hoods, helmets and shields are at the top of the list of things to be purchased. 

Daggatt said the department spends about $2,900 on gear for each firefighter.  

"There's a rather large shortage," he said of suits and gear. Daggett said there are eight volunteer firefighters who need gear now and eight more will need gear upon training. 

The Ledyard and Gales Ferry Fire Departments have six paid firefighters.

Turnout gear has a shelf life of 15 years but with active use it lasts approximately 10 years, said Daggett, but that's not always the case. 

"It could be gone in one call," he said, "if we get (hazardous material) on it and we don't know what it is, we have to throw it away."