Ice rescue equipment and a trailer will be added to the Brighton Fire Department. The Brighton Volunteer Fire Fighters Association received a $26,440 grant from the Washington County Riverboat Foundation to assist with the purchase. The equipment will include an enclosed trailer, four wetsuits, an ice sled, helmets, six life jackets, and two reach poles.

The department had a cold-water rescue earlier this year. On April 13th, a man had his legs pulled into a pond’s overflow pipe in 40-degree water. The man’s 21-year-old son kept his face above water until volunteers from the Brighton Fire Department arrived. The man, Randy Gardner, was freed from the pipe with volunteers in the water by his side, flown to the University of Iowa Hospitals by helicopter, and made a full recovery. In June, he met with the volunteer fire fighters of Brighton and thanked them for saving his life.