Bridgeport supports Chappell firefighters 

CHAPPELL – While firefighters showed the weariness of hours fighting the Morrill Fire, one firehouse showed its support for another Sunday. 

A pickup load of supplies were donated to Chappell Volunteer Fire Department Sunday. Buffy Prince, a former volunteer firefighter, said Chappell was selected when it was learned they were still in need of donations. 

“When this fire broke out, we could feel all the stress everyone was feeling; the fear, everything. And, a few days in, we did some calling around and we were informed that some areas were still in need of donations. So I put a post out on Facebook asking for donations supplies originally up in our area. And then the day of the drive it was confirmed that these areas that we were going for were actually doing ok, and so it was later confirmed that Chappell needed help,” Prince said. 

She said the donation drive quickly became a community effort. 

“In that process, Black Hills Energy donated $1,000 worth of supplies, Home Depot in Scottsbluff donated a full pallet of water, Hackett's Feed donated PowerAde and hygiene products and several people in the Bridgeport community stepped up, stopped by and dropped off anything they could just to help assist the firefighters,” she said. 

The donations as firefighters arrived in Chappell focused on a little rest before returning to the fire line. Assistant Fire Chief Brent Fletcher described the donations as boost of morale. 

 “It was great. Everybody’s needed, and we’ve been seeing ... we’ve been up fighting, everybody’s been up there fighting for a long time; long, hard days. So, any sort of donations are appreciated. You see the people, what they’ve done. You go into each firehouse. All the donations, everybody, I mean, it’s great seeing people stand up,” he said.