Photo courtesy of Lynd Fire Department: The Lynd Fire Department recently received a $5,000 grant from the BNSF Railway Foundation for new handheld radios to replace former ones that were three decades old.

LYND — Continuing to make additions through the generous help of community and organizational support, the Lynd Fire Department is upgrading its communication with brand new radios after receiving a $5,000 grant from the BNSF Railway Foundation.

The funding has helped to replace radios that were over 30 years old, and will now significantly improve communication reliability and effectiveness in the department’s emergency response efforts.

“The Lynd Fire Department is deeply grateful for the continued generosity and partnership of these organizations, whose support helps ensure the department can continue serving the community safely and effectively,” Jason Algyer of the Lynd Fire Department said.

Along with the BNSF Foundation grant, the Lynd Fire Department noted that it has also received recent support from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Sussner Construction, Lyon Lincoln Electric Cooperative and First Interstate Bank.

The BNSF Railway Foundation helps to financially support 28 states, in where it operates, by improving and making a difference in communities in a handful of ways such as civic services, cultural organizations, educational institutions, youth organizations and more.

BNSF primarily works in states across the midwest, southwest and northwest regions of the country.

As a smaller-operating fire department, the Lynd Fire Department has continued to show its thankfulness to the support it receives, along with expressing the importance of it to help make additions, equipment upgrades and replacements possible.

“It’s been a really good feeling, being able to get this support from businesses and the community, to see what we are trying to do,” Lynd Fire Department chief Dillon Schultz recently told the Independent.

“Noticing the community support … People circle around this department, and that impresses me a lot. Very much so,” Algyer added.

The fire department also recently was able to get a 7×16 grain bin rescue trailer this winter, which will store equipment and save crucial time when called to a grain bin accident. The trailer was also the result of a plethora of business and community donations.

The new trailer will hold equipment such as grain tubes, ropes, shovels, lighting and other personal protective equipment (PPE), so that the department can quickly hook up the trailer and go in the case of an emergency, rather than spending more time on gathering the equipment.

“We had overwhelming support … [Everyone] grants back farmer safety. I’m proud of everybody. It’s a regional and a local situation, and they provided funding,” Algyer told the Independent when the fire department received the trailer. “We’re moving definitely 100% in the right direction.”

“[We appreciate] the time that it will save us. This way, we have everything in one spot and this way, we can hook up to the trailer and go,” Schultz added about the project. “The time capacity alone it will save us to get on scene to start helping, that in itself is huge when seconds matter … In order to save that time is critical in situations like that.”

The fire department has since received the new radios at the station in recent days, which now provides an updated and reliable way to enhance coordination between the first responders, and ultimately will play a pivotal role in serving community members when called for help.