Donations To Fire-EMS To Fund A Variety of Needs

Jackson Hole Fire/EMS came away from this year’s Old Bill’s event with more than $128-thousand dollars in donations – triggered, in part by their loss of a wildland fire truck during the wildfire south of town.  Fire Chief Willie Watsabaugh says he was quite moved by the generosity of the community.  Watsabaugh says he has always known by the outpouring of people on the street and their expressions of confidence during the recent fire that the community fully supported the department, but the donations were an unmistakable show of that support.  Watsabaugh says the department will not use the entire amount for a new truck as it is to be split between the various stations to meet the needs in the different parts of the county.  As a matter of fact, Watsabaugh says most likely, the department will seek a similar vehicle to replace the destroyed one rather than something new and different.  That truck, he admits, was certainly not new, but the group of similar vehicles the department owns has performed very well for what the department needs in the terrain they are intended.  Meanwhile, Watsabaugh says the department is trying to determine how to go about finding that replacement vehicle.