Greenwood Volunteer Fire looks for support through annual BBQ

By Ethan Hartley
Posted 9/20/18

By ETHAN HARTLEY -- The Greenwood Volunteer Fire Company #1 is asking for support to help raise funds to continue making repairs to their hall, which also doubles as a museum for antique firefighting trucks and accessories and historical information...

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Greenwood Volunteer Fire looks for support through annual BBQ

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The Greenwood Volunteer Fire Company #1 is asking for support to help raise funds to continue making repairs to their hall, which also doubles as a museum for antique firefighting trucks and accessories and historical information from around the area.

They will be holding their annual barbecue and fundraising raffle Sunday, Sept. 30 at the East Greenwich Veteran Fireman’s Club, located at 80 Queen St. in East Greenwich. Tickets are $25 with kids tickets priced half off. There will be food provided by Texas Roadhouse, music, demonstrations from Warwick fire and police departments and a performance from the Magic Garden Tree Carvers.

“This is our major fundraising event,” said Bob Carlow, captain of the Coventry Fire Department and the president of the Greenwood Volunteer Fire Company. “We've got to start chipping away at that furnace. The furnace is over 50 years old.”

The volunteer company has raised a lot of money and put significant work into the fire hall and museum in recent years, replacing the roof that was pushing 40 years old and reworking the electrical work inside the building.

“We've come a long way in three years,” Carlow said.

Volunteers have repainted the upstairs and the downstairs work is almost done, though Carlow was hoping to get some help – possibly through a collaboration with the Warwick Area Career and Tech Center – to finish renovations on the bathroom.

“We've got enough money for the materials,” he said. “If we had the kids come through and help knock this out in a couple days, that would help us out so much.”

Carlow spoke about why preserving the hall and museum – which features such historic gems as one of Warwick’s first fire engines from 1825 – means so much to him.

“It preserves city history. There's a lot of stuff where it shows the volunteer fire department used to be a big social contributor to the community. They all had dances, fundraisers, it was a place to go and they became their own little families, competitions against others,” he said. “Before computers, that was it... It shows all the history and it shows not just firefighting history but the history of the hall and the area.”

Those interested in purchasing tickets to the fundraising barbecue should contact Bob Carlow at 302-1120 or reach out through their Facebook page. The Greenwood Volunteer Fire Company is located at 45 Kernick St. in Warwick.

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