Annual dues for the Enning Volunteer Fire Department doubled to $50 this year, payment of which automatically makes you a volunteer firefighter, according to Lane Butler, president of the fire department's board of directors.

During the summer of 2006, membership dues for the Enning VFD were a bargain. For just $25, volunteers spent 22 continuous days fighting fire.

Dues doubled this year to help the department meet expenses. The $6,000 raised through memberships doesn't go very far for the department, which covers 700,000 acres with 10 trucks. It barely covers insurance on equipment, buildings and firefighters.

Community spirit is the soul that sustains small, rural fire departments, Butler said.

"People are really good about donating and helping out," he said.

Firefighters know that if the rain stops and the weather turns hot and windy, summer could bring a repeat of last year when the White Owl Fire raced across 300 square miles of pastures and hay fields in four days.

"Hopefully, we don't have another bad fire season, but it's not looking very good," Butler said. "We've had just enough (rain) to make the grass start to grow."

Thanks to a $39,000 donation from a Meade County benefit last September, the Enning VFD will have some new firefighting equipment to use this summer.

Organized by a group of Meade County residents, the benefit raised nearly $165,000, which was distributed to 98 fire departments.

"That money saved us is what it did," Butler said. "It was a big savior for our department."

Enning used the windfall to add three brush trucks to the fire department's fleet, increasing its complement from four to seven, once all of them are operational. Two of the trucks are surplus trucks ordered through the state's Fire Equipment Shop at Springfield, Butler said.

"We'll have to put tanks, pumps and hoses on them," he said. The department will have approximately $8,000 to $9,000 in each truck once they are ready to go.

The third truck was purchased from the Wall Fire Department.

"We're trying to update our trucks to more brush trucks and not so many tender trucks," Butler explained. The lighter brush trucks are more maneuverable and can travel deeper into rugged river breaks.

The benefit money also paid off loans on other trucks and bought additional personal protection equipment for firefighters.

Outfitting a firefighter with personal protection equipment can cost between $300 and $400, according to Mike Merriman, training officer for the Faith VFD.

Faith used some of the $11,000 it received from the Meade County fund-raiser to outfit firefighters. The money also helped pay for a new brush truck and for more training for firefighters.

Although the state stepped in with a 90-10 cost share on fuel and repair costs for last summer's firefighting efforts, for a department that exists on donations, the summer was costly.

"We fought 49 fires ranging in size from 5-10 acres to 65,000 acres," Merriman said.

"If it wasn't for donations, we'd be in a world of hurt this year," Merriman said.

Contact Andrea Cook at 394-8423 or andrea.cook@rapidcityjournal.com