Collingdale Firefighters Working To Help Fellow Firefighters In Sierra Leone
By Walt Hunter
COLLINGDALE, Pa., (CBS) -- Collingdale, Delaware County firefighters are busy answering an urgent rescue call from their fellow firefighters thousands of miles away.
In Freetown, Sierra Leone, firefighters must share a single piece of protective gear, torn and full of holes. Forced to sleep on the floor of their crumbling station, at most fires, they wear only street clothes, unable to go inside to save lives and stop flames, because they lack coats and pants to shield them.
Collingdale firefighter Alhaji Saccoh uncovered the firefighters' plight when he visited the fire station in the hometown where his parents and family still live, making a video with their plea for help.
"I'm trying to collect used fire gear to be sent to Sierra Leone, my native country," Saccoh says in his video appeal. And the response has been a general alarm of generosity. Hundreds of used, but still valuable, lifesaving items pouring in, not just from Collingdale but from nearly a dozen fire companies countywide.
"You got helmets, you got hoods, you got jackets, bunker pants, boots and gloves," explained Junior Firefighter Karallus Dietrich as he looked at a storage area filled with items.
"This stuff is still serviceable," added firefighter Stynor Carter, "and when you have absolutely nothing, anything you get to fight a fire is a gift."
The firefighters, however, are facing one last challenge: nearly $4,000 needed to ship this lifesaving gear, so they're holding a May 17th fundraiser at the Collingdale firehouse, 510 Clifton Ave., Collingdale.
"If they have the resources," Saccoh told CBS 3's Walt Hunter, "those guys will do miracles over there."
If you or your fire company wants to help, details are available on the fire company's website: www.collingdale1.com.