Sheriff: Fire department mailer bogus

Staff report
Local residents are receiving mailers asking them to help their undermanned volunteer fire department — help doing maintenance, answering the phone, bookkeeping, even doing lawn care.

But short of that, a donation tucked inside the enclosed, postage-paid envelope will “help you find someone to take my place.”

Just not in Jefferson, Iowa.

The mailer isn’t associated with the Jefferson Fire Department, Chief Jack Williams is warning.

The mailer purports to be a “Jefferson Area Volunteer Firefighter Drive.”

The local fire department hasn’t undertaken any such drive, said Williams, who’s also county sheriff.

The mailer is from the Volunteer Firefighter Alliance, which is based in either Topeka, Kan., or Knoxville, Tenn., depending on where you look for information.

The organization claims to be on a national mission “to help volunteer fire departments recruit members.”

Williams became aware of it when a few residents who received the mailer alerted him to it.

Short of calling it a scam, Williams said, simply, “It’s not our fire department.”