By FireRescue1 Staff
OVID, N.Y. — A fire department is reeling after four of its members were sidelined from firefighting, the youngest only 23.
TWC News reported that three firefighters are battling cancer and a fourth is awaiting a kidney transplant.
“We’re a small community and all that just really hits you pretty hard when it happens,” Ovid Fire Department Chief William Palmer said.
Firefighters Mike Snyder, Gary Covert and Brian Reynolds, 23, are battling cancer; Scott Armitage is in need of a new kidney.
“It takes a toll emotionally, mentally,” Carrier Smalser, an organizer of an April 28 benefit for all four, said. “But at the same time we want to see them do well, continue to thrive and beat this.”
The benefit aims to raise money to cover medical costs not covered by insurance.
Organizers said they’ve already received donations from the community as well as from departments all over the state.