Fund provides division with new sign
North Columbia Fire and Rescue Division 4 volunteer firefighters spent May 7 giving their station a face-lift.
Capt. Patrick Bargeron (from left), Chief Dino Cesarini and Capt. Danile Causey hang the new sign for the North Columbia Fire and Rescue.
Special photo
That work involved placing the first sign bearing the department's new name on their station.
Seven department volunteers, two-thirds of the department, spent the Saturday before Mother's Day painting the Division 4, Station 41, headquarters building at 6285 Cobbham Road inside and out, putting a new sign at the street and installing new light fixtures.
The $400 sign, which was paid for from the division's Firefighters Fund, was installed recently.
"The firemen voted to purchase the new sign to put on their new building out of their Firemen Fund," said Dino Cesarini, the Division 4 volunteer chief, adding that the money in the fund is put in by the firefighters for needed equipment or repairs that the budget won't cover, and to assist firefighters' families in need.
The department holds regular barbecue fund-raisers and maintains the ongoing sale of reflective address marker signs to help emergency responders find homes easily and quickly.
The department's maintenance budget was depleted on the paint and supplies, so the men opted to pay for the sign themselves, Cesarini said.
Though the smallest division of the department, Cesarini said, he is proud of his volunteers, who have donated funds and labor in the past to construct two 50-by-50-foot concrete pads adjacent to the building and an addition on the back.
The new street sign, which was damaged in an ice storm, has been replaced by one built by Sgt. Keith Shomber.
Cesarini said his volunteers want the community to be proud of them and the department.
"I feel like a fire station is a sense of pride and a sense of self-respect,'' he said. "If the building doesn't look good, the guys aren't going to feel good about themselves. If they feel good about themselves, they are going to do a better job.''
North Columbia Chief Tom McFarland said new signs will be put up at the department's eight other stations when budgets permit. For more information about sales of address markers or upcoming fund-raisers, call the station at 541-0103.