POTTER, Neb. — The Potter Volunteer Fire Department received a significant boost to its life-saving capabilities thanks to an $18,000 donation from High West Energy and its partners Basin Electric Power Co-Op and CoBank.

The funds will equip the department with two new sets of battery-operated jaws of life tools — including cutters, spreaders and a ram — to assist with both vehicle and structural entry in emergency situations. The tools will be mounted in a new fire engine scheduled to arrive this fall.

High West Energy contributed $6,000, while Basin Power and CoBank supplied an additional $12,000. The donation was sparked by local High West linemen who live in Potter and recognized the department’s equipment needs. They approached High West Energy Board Chairman Kevin Thomas, of Potter, which initiated the funding discussions.

High West Energy CEO and General Manager Jared Routh said the cooperative regularly reinvests excess patronage capital back into member communities.

"We decided to pay that back," Routh said. “Their mission really resonated with us since, in our industry, we do some dangerous stuff. We wanted to make sure they could complete a project instead of just contributing toward something.”

Fire Chief Mark Onstott, now in his fifth year as chief, said the department’s 35 volunteer members typically rely on grants and fundraisers to fund improvements.

“There’s not words to express what this means to a volunteer fire department,” he said. “It would have taken us probably 10 years to come up with these funds.”

PVFD, which averages about 150 calls per year split evenly between fire and medical, provides mutual aid across the Panhandle.

In recent years, the department has added a new wildland truck, ambulance, training facility and gear upgrades — and is currently working on a new fire hall for faster response times.