NFD collects gear from Iowa fire stations to donate to Mexico firefighters

At the request of a Newton resident whose family descends from Mexico, firefighters from three Iowa towns scoured the supply closets of their home fire stations for any spare equipment to donate to their fellow public safety officials working south of the border.

Kimberly Lopez couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw the sheer amount of firefighter turnout gear piled onto the garage floor of the Newton Fire Department shortly after the first week of May. It was exactly what she had asked for and more. Much more, in fact. She was practically speechless when Newton Fire Chief Jarrod Wellik sent her the inventory sheet.

Forty-six bunker coats. Thirty-nine pairs of fire resistant trousers. Twenty-five helmets, many equipped with visors. Twenty-one protective hoods. Nineteen pairs of thick gloves. Thirteen pairs of fire boots. Altogether, the Iowa Association of Professional Fire Chiefs (IAPFC) estimated the cost of the equipment would be about $88,000 if purchased new.

By July, all 163 pieces of equipment donated by fire station staff from Marion, Camanche and Waukee will be sent to a dozen or more firefighters in Mexico, many of them friends of Lopez’s, who are struggling to find suitable gear to protect themselves on the job and better serve their community of Degollado, Jalisco.

“This is going to impact so many lives down there,” Lopez told the Newton Daily News. “It’s going to make a difference, which is a great thing. Here in America we do have a lot more privileges than in other countries. Whenever we can help out, we’re all there and we all get together as a community. And that’s fantastic. That’s what I love about this country.”

Earlier in the year, Lopez had visited Mexico and learned of the struggles facing the Bomberos y Proteccion Civil Degollado, the station receiving the donated turnout gear collected by the Newton Fire Department. She observed the substandard working conditions of the Mexican firefighters, who were also actively seeking donations for new equipment.

Although their fundraising efforts produced a sensible sum of money, it was not sufficient to purchase enough equipment, Lopez said. A conversation about stateside fire departments’ protocols and preferences to regularly replace aging equipment got her wondering if there was any way to acquire those discarded coats, helmets and boots.

Lopez began to find answers to her questions in the most unlikeliest of places: at her parents’ Newton restaurant, La Cabaña. By chance, when she was working the register of the longstanding Mexican restaurant, she ran into Rep. Wes Breckenridge, D-Newton, and thought he might know a way to acquire firefighter gear she had been searching for.

“Hey, Wes, do you know what happens with the fire equipment that is no longer needed?” she asked.

Breckenridge wasn’t sure. “Jeez, I don’t know,” he said.

“Well, do you think it would be possible to donate these items? Because that would be great. It would make a huge difference and it would really help out.”

The two swapped emails before Breckenridge left the restaurant. The Newton legislator had made contact with his local fire chief to see what could be done. Wellik said he sent out an email to all the fire chiefs in the IAPFC asking if there was any spare and expired equipment they had that could be sent to Mexico.

When it came time to unveil the pile of equipment the Newton Fire Department had gathered for Lopez and her family, Wellik picked up a few firefighters jackets to show them exactly how durable they had become. Generally, he said, many departments replace their turnout gear every 10 years, a standard set by the National Fire Protection Association.

“That gear is actually in pretty good shape,” Wellik said. “In the times that I’ve been down to Mexico, we’ve seen fire stations and they typically don’t have hardly anything. Very underfunded. Very under-equipped. I saw this as an opportunity to get them some equipment that’s really in pretty good shape.

“While we can’t use it in the United States,” he added, “I believe that gear is still good. I would not be afraid to use it myself. That being the case, that’s giving them a huge advantage over what they had.”

Now the only problem Lopez and her family are facing is transporting all of the equipment to Mexico in a timely manner, especially when it’s “more than what they expected.” Wellik said it is “outstanding” that Lopez is willing to take the project on in stride.

“There’s people who talk about helping out other people and then there’s people who do stuff about it,” Wellik said. “And Kimberly is obviously somebody who cares enough to do something ... The beauty of it is it’s things that have no value in the United States but are of tremendous value to a fellow firefighter from another part of the world.”

Lopez is just happy to see communities come together for one singular purpose: helping those in need, and in more ways the one.

“We’re all trying to do good, and we care for our neighbors for getting people home safe to their families and just making a good impact in everyone’s life,” Lopez said. “It’s not just helping them individually, it’s helping the whole community.”

Contact Christopher Braunschweig at 641-792-3121 ext. 6560 or cbraunschweig@newtondailynews.com