Hurricane Charlie

On August 15th Bill Byrnes, firefighter with our company and part time Florida resident, rushed to assist his Florida community and fire company, Upper Captiva Fire & Rescue, after Hurricane Charlie struck. He was assisted by Brian Sauers Jr.

Charity Drive For Floridians

During the month of September and October Bill Byrnes organized a charity drive for Floridians devastated by the hurricanes. Bill, a member of Toms River Fire Co. No 1 & Upper Captiva Fire Rescue returned from Florida late in September after assisting his department with cleanup from the storms. Bill still felt the need to help more and with the assistance of many members from Company 1 he began the charity drive. Bill was able to get local media to assist as well in advertising the drive. Ron and Carl Weingroff added their talents by obtaining extra media coverage of the drive through the Halloween Parade and was able to obtain a truck to transport the items to Florida from U-Haul Corporation as a donation. Bill coordinated with members from his Florida based fire dept. as well as Pine Island Fire Dept. Two members were flown to New Jersey thanks to financial donations from Allstate Insurance Company. The donations also helped to provide fuel and other supplies to transport the items to Florida. Thanks to all that helped including the community and especially Bill Byrnes, Ed Wintz and Jeff Roach.