Warren County’s largest volunteer fire department is getting a little help with equipment to be used on its growing number of runs.

The Richardsville VFD, which made more than 1,000 total runs in 2018 and now has six stations and 41 firefighters, is receiving a $9,640 grant from the Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation to purchase four automated external defibrillators.

“We’re very excited for this financial support,” Richardsville VFD Chief Brian Lee said. “Our department’s responses to incidents continue to increase, and we look forward to ensuring that AEDs are available on all our calls.”

The grant will allow the department to stage a defibrillator on each of its engines and medical response vehicles, according to a news release. A heart defibrillator is used to send an electric shock to the heart in an effort to restore its natural rhythm.

Providing such equipment is important, Warren County Fifth District Magistrate Mark Young said.

“This funding is essential in providing the equipment that the department needs to continue these lifesaving services,” he said.

This is the first Firehouse Subs grant awarded to a Warren County volunteer fire department but not the first awarded in the county.

The Bowling Green Fire Department received a $17,145 grant in 2016 to purchase a digital fire training simulator, and the Warren County Technical Rescue Team received a grant of $11,469 in 2017 to purchase gear that is used for water rescues.

Founded in 1994 in Florida by former firefighters Robin and Chris Sorensen, Firehouse Subs has grown to more than 1,100 franchise restaurants in 45 states, Puerto Rico and Canada.

The Sorensen brothers launched the nonprofit Public Safety Foundation in 2005, providing funding, equipment and educational opportunities to first responders and public safety organizations. The foundation has awarded more than $40 million worth of grants, including $575,000 in Kentucky.

Mickey and Jan McKeel, franchise owners of the Bowling Green location and four other Firehouse Subs restaurants, said the foundation is funded largely by the restaurant chain’s customers.

Jan McKeel said sales of “pickle buckets” and donations made at the cash register all go to the foundation.

“Some folks there have written some good grants, but it doesn’t hurt that the customers in Bowling Green are generous,” she said. “I’m just thrilled that the Bowling Green area has received grants worth more than $36,000 in the four years that we’ve been there.”

This grant for defibrillators is the latest in a series of grants received by the Richardsville VFD. Last year, the department received a $139,048 federal grant to purchase 24 self-contained breathing apparatus units and a $56,000 Kentucky Fire Commission grant to help in building a training center.

That training center, expected to be completed in the spring, includes a ventilation prop that simulates different types of roofs that can be encountered by firefighters and a steel structure that can be configured to mimic either a single-family home or an apartment building.

When completed, the training center at the Richardsville VFD Station 2 on Mt. Olivet Girkin Road will be utilized by all county volunteer fire departments and by some neighboring counties.