Attorney Mark Alcott (left) and Smiths Grove Volunteer Fire Department Chief Kenneth Priddy talk today about the departments $271,826 gift from the estate of Jessie Allen. Photo by Joe Imel

Residents and motorists in northeastern Warren County will benefit from improved emergency response equipment at the Smiths Grove Volunteer Fire Department, including the Jaws of Life. The equipment and other improvements to the volunteer fire agency, which operates on a tight budget, are the result of a frugal Smiths Grove woman who died nearly a year ago, leaving a sizable chunk of her estate to the department. Bowling Green attorneys Jerry Parker and Mark Alcott presented Smiths Grove Volunteer Fire Chief Kenneth Priddy with a check for $271,826 today. The check was 95 percent of Jessie Allens estate, who was 93 when she died. Itll be a tremendous help, Priddy said. She was always there willing to help. Allen was described by Parker and Alcott as a sweet woman who never married or had children and lived very frugally, even though she prospered from wise investments. Allen did not have any surviving relatives. Allen requested the portion of her estate be left to the Smiths Grove department because two of the members had checked on her and befriended her for several years while she lived alone, Priddy said. Allen had been involved with a ladies auxiliary group that helped raise money for the department each year. The gift is a highly unusual for the Smiths Grove VFD, or for any of the nine volunteer fire departments that operate throughout the county, Priddy said. The Smiths Grove department covers the Smiths Grove area to the Allen, Barren and Edmonson county lines, including frequent crashes along Interstate 65, he said. Parker said he hopes Allens gesture will inspire others to be generous with volunteer agencies. Volunteer fire departments typically have three to five fund-raisers each year to help pay for maintenance costs and other upkeep, according to Gott Volunteer Fire Department Chief Craig Peay. If departments have the proper paperwork and criteria, they receive $8,500 from the state and receive an additional $5,000 from the county government, which also handles the stations utility services, Peay said. The Hadley Volunteer Fire Department is the countys smallest district with only 500 members and maybe 60 percent who actually pay their voluntary fire dues, according to Hadley Chief Russell Justice. Money equals better equipment and increased time for training instead of fund raising, he said. Its a struggle for us out here, Justice said. We have to really watch what we have and what we spend.