Normally when a fire truck shows up, it means bad news. Maricopa Fire Department (MFD) regularly are the first responders to the worst accidents and fires of Maricopa, and they take it all in their stride. However, when Station 574 and their crew showed up to F.O.R. Maricopa Wednesday morning, it was for a much more joyous occasion.
Firefighters hopped down off their truck and began unloading boxes and bags of all kinds of children's winter gear, and a few extras. It was all coming from Peoria Unified School District, where Maricopa Fire Captain Paul Neumann regularly raids their lost and found at the end of the semester for goods to donate to the community.
Neumann says kids often leave their winter jackets behind and never come looking for them. For this latest batch of donations, they stopped counting at about 350 winter jackets.