Members of the May community have come together to form the town's first volunteer fire department.
A fundraiser dinner will be held on Thursday to raise money for the purchase of a building that will house trucks and equipment for the new fire department.
A stew and chili dinner will be served at the May Community Church from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
“In order to get our feet off the ground we’ve got to have support from the community,” said Fire Chief Thad Murphy. “We need volunteers to step up not only financially but with man power to operate the department.”
Murphy said that until now the closest fire department was located 8 miles from May in Fort Supply.
“There is an area that we are going to be able to serve that has no coverage at this time,” he said.
Interest in starting the department was sparked after the community became part of Ellis County Rural Water District No. 1, Murphy said, noting fire hydrants are now in place that will give fire fighters the ability to pull a large amount of water in a short amount of time.
Murphy said the Sharon Volunteer Fire Department donated a pumper truck and other fire departments in the area have also stepped up to help with training and equipment including Gage, Laverne and Buffalo.
The new fire department has also received some grant money from the Oklahoma Economic Development Association and the Oklahoma Forestry Department, he said.
Murphy said, “Our main goal right now is to get a building built then we will continue to acquire more things like trucks and go from there.”
