SIDNEY, NE — The City of Sidney is getting help buying a new fire engine.

At Tuesday night's city council meeting, Wendall Gaston with the Sidney Community Donor Advised Fund, a part of the Nebraska Community Foundation, presented the council with a check for over $43,000.

The check will cover the costs for the new fire engine that Sidney did not already have allotted for the purchase.

According to city documents, the city currently has $450,000 in the fire department's equipment reserve fund. The bid for the new fire engine is just over $493,400. This was within the city's budgeted amount, and city officials had planned on adding the remaining cost to the equipment reserve fund in fiscal year 2021-22. 

By receiving the grant, however, the city no longer needs to cover the remaining cost of the new fire engine. 

Gaston said the hard work of the fire department in 2020 made it easy to pitch the project to donors.

"Building buildings is not our forte," Gaston said. "Our forte is helping directly people. Providing, helping finish off buying a fire truck not only helps the fire department, but it helps them do their job, it helps people."

Sidney Volunteer Fire Department Chief Laverne Bown says the 31 members of the department put in over 1,200 man-hours responding to calls. That total does not include hours spent training. He says it's the busiest year he's seen since joining the department.

At the meeting, Bown thanked all the members of the department for their time and dedication over the past year.