These wildfires are exhausting the limited resources of volunteer fire departments and agencies that provide the on-site muscle to put them out. So the Lubbock Area Foundation is launching a disaster recovery fund.
Your monetary donation made here will stay here, and help efforts related to the wildfires and other disasters affecting communities in the South Plains area. The fund will be utilized to replace equipment and keep volunteer firefighters prepared.
Joe Stettheimer, President of the Lubbock Area Foundation said area fire departments are in great need of funding to replace equipment that has been damaged or lost in the fires.
“We've been informed by many of the volunteer Fire Departments throughout the region that many of their losses are not insured. Unless the President of the United States declares a disaster area, FEMA will not be available to replace the lost equipment,” Stettheimer said.
Garza County continues to douse flames that have sparked on a continuous basis for about two weeks now. Thressa Harp, Mayor of Post, said the recovery fund is greatly needed in her town and county, because more than half of the budget the Post VFD set aside for disasters has been spent battling the wildfires.
"The area towns that have come to our aid the last two months, we would also help them and this is a good way for us to do that," Harp said.
