Firefighters Help Fight Disease

A few drops in the bucket add up. Just ask the firefighters at Towson Fire Station.

Throughout the Labor Day weekend, Towson firefighters swarmed the Dulaney Valley Road and Fairmount Avenue intersection near Towson Town Center to raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. They said their countywide efforts raised more than $60,000 for the organization. 

The fundraiser is a longtime program spearheaded by the International Association of Fire Fighters. The group has partnered with the MDA since 1954 and has raised millions for the group nationwide. Members have donated their time since Thursday by parking their trucks nearby and asking drivers to drop their spare change into boots and buckets–a few cents here, a few dollars there.

Ron Waters, a firefighter from Garrison Station in Owings Mills, is the president of IAFF Local 1311. The money raised, he said, stays in the area and helps causes ranging from research at Johns Hopkins Hospital to sending a child to camp for a week.

"To be able to see those kids enjoying camp was very, very rewarding," he said.

Towson isn't the only place where firefighters were raising money. Waters said Local 1311 members were doing the same thing in Timonium, Essex and throughout Baltimore County. Fortunately, the weather cooperated.

"There's been years when we had to put up with rain and there's been years that we were harassed by other individuals who didn't want us to come out, but this year it's been great," he said.

Firefighting, of course, comes first, and Waters said he's grateful to the county for letting the firefighters take time to do this, though they remain on call throughout the day.

"They are kind enough to let us do this on duty," he said. "Other [local unions], they're not allowed to do this on duty. They have to go elsewhere."

Greg Wallis, a lieutenant based in Towson, arrived around 11 a.m. with his crew, returning from one of those calls.

"We had to go back and get our shirts so we're running a little late," he said. "We stay in service."

Jhett Lewis, a captain at the Towson station, said he has been coming out like this for almost 32 years. After only an hour on Monday morning, his bucket was weighed down with dozens of dollar bills and coins. When asked if he ever stopped to think about how much money he's raised over the years, he shook his head.

"I just do it," he said, before running off to answer an eager driver's honk.