VFCA Rural Apparatus Support Program
Helping Virginia Fire Departments Help Each Other

At the Virginia Fire Chiefs Association (VFCA), our mission is rooted in leadership, service, and support for all of Virginia’s fire and EMS professionals regardless of zip code or budget size. Through our work across the Commonwealth, we’ve witnessed a growing divide between departments with robust resources and those barely able to sustain basic operations. Many rural fire departments are operating on budgets so limited that replacing critical apparatus is simply out of reach. Some are still responding to emergencies in vehicles built in the 1980s.

The VFCA Rural Apparatus Support Program was created to bridge that gap.

This initiative connects well-resourced departments retiring serviceable apparatus with rural departments in urgent need of functional emergency vehicles. Rather than selling older vehicles for minimal return or scrap, VFCA encourages departments to consider donating those units to communities where they can continue to save lives for years to come.

These are not departments that can “just fundraise more” or wait for state support, they are doing all they can often with volunteer personnel and limited infrastructure to protect their neighbors. A donated ambulance or engine could mean the difference between a delayed response and a life saved.

If your department has a front-line serviceable piece of apparatus—fire truck, engine, or ambulance available for donation, we urge you to contact VFCA Executive Director Chris Eudailey at ceudailey@vfca.us or 540-809-9397. Chris will facilitate the connection between your department and one that truly needs the support.

Together, we can strengthen Virginia’s fire service—one apparatus, one department, one community at a time.

Please fill out and submit the form below.👇