Meriden firefighter Konstantin Tartakovsky has collected hundreds of pairs of pants, boots, coats, helmets, and more for fellow firefighters in Ukraine.
Dozens of departments across the state have donated equipment to the fire lieutenant.
He got the idea after seeing a similar initiative in Canada. Once he found out that would be expensive to be a part of, he found a company in New Jersey that will ship it. He plans to deliver it next week.
"Today I broke one hundred sets of pants and coats for firefighting equipment," he said Monday. "I can pretty much almost outfit an entire fire department minus the truck."
His garage is full of more than one hundred coats, more than one hundred pants, nearly 30 helmets, 30 pairs of gloves, 30 pairs of boots, eleven rescue harnesses, two jaws of life, ten hazmat suits, and more.