Support SBVFC: Improve Firehouse Ventilation

The Ship Bottom Volunteer Fire Company (SBVFC) needs YOUR help to fund the installation of a Plymovent Vehicle Exhaust Extraction System at Station 46 in Ship Bottom, NJ.

Cancer is the number one killer of Firefighters. Not only are we exposed to hazardous environments when we fight fires. We are also exposed to hazardous toxins at our station, too. That’s where we need your help!

Every time we start up one of our fire trucks, our members are blasted, and our fire station is filled with a burst of hazardous diesel exhaust. To make matters worse, when we leave the station for a call, and close the overhead doors, those toxins are trapped inside our firehouse. Luckily, there is now a way to extract these harmful vapors before they leave the truck’s tailpipe and permeate the air in our firehouse, and Plymovent Vehicle Exhaust Extraction Systems do just that! But at a price of over $70,000, this system has been well beyond our reach.

In 2023, our Fire Chief was able to procure a used Plymovent system at no cost to the Fire Company. We had the equipment and parts but still needed over $30,000 to install the system. As we do every year, we sold T-shirts, Valentines Day roses, and Christmas trees. We held Karaoke Nights, Summer Block Parties and even rented out our hall.

In early 2024, we issued a Purchase Order for the installation but later had to put the project on hold…Our 25-year-old ladder truck, our primary response vehicle, broke down just before summer in 2024. The emergency repairs needed to get this apparatus back on the road cost us over $50,000 which depleted all the money we had raised to install the Plymovent system.

Now, one year later, we are still short of these funds. The Ship Bottom Vol. Fire Co is a 100% Volunteer-run firehouse serving Ship Bottom and Brant Beach and responding as 24-hour automatic mutual aid into Surf City and North Beach with the Surf City Vol. Fire Co. & EMS. In addition to responding to calls and attending training, our members have families and regular jobs (often multiple jobs) to attend to. We are at maximum capacity for physical fundraisers. And with today’s cost of living and inflation, our physical fundraisers are simply no longer cutting it to maintain our Fire Company, let alone to install this life-saving system.

While we receive a generous donation from Ship Bottom Borough and Long Beach Township annually for a combined total of $153,000, we are NOT directly taxpayer funded. YOU DO NOT PAY A FIRE TAX. Over 50% of our operating costs must be donation- and fundraising-driven!

We are asking you to consider helping us raise $30,000 to install a Plymovent Vehicle Exhaust Extraction System in our firehouse for the health and safety of our volunteers, who put their jobs, lives, and families on hold to help you in your time of need.

The Ship Bottom Vol. Fire Co. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, so 100% of your donation is tax-deductible.

Please donate and SHARE this fundraiser TODAY so we can get this lifesaving system installed right away!

The Officers, Administrators, and Members of the Ship Bottom Vol. Fire Co. THANK YOU for your support!

For more information on the Plymovent Vehicle Exhaust Extraction System and to see how it works, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxiegZkeNeo