Swayzee’s Volunteer Fire Department brings Christmas spirit to town

Grant County, Indiana is home to many small towns filled with their own communities and traditions. One of these towns, Swayzee, is located on the West side of the county and has a tight-knit group of people who work hard to keep the community both protected and in the holiday spirit. 

The Swayzee Volunteer Fire Department (SVFD) is a group of 25 men who come in on their free time to keep the town safe. 

The SVFD is also the parent company for Southwest Medic Inc. which houses an ambulance for Grant County EMS. The two groups used to be separate, but in recent years have combined under the SVFD umbrella. 

The department runs on about 300 calls for the fire and EMS side and another 80-100 for the ambulance. 

Christmas

Aside from the average duties of being a fireman and/or EMS officer, the members of the Swayzee Volunteer Fire Department have several holiday operations to bring the community together. 

Fire Chief Tyler Bundrick said that the SVFD puts on a few Christmas events every year. 

On Dec. 14, from 7 to 11 a.m., kids can come and enjoy Breakfast with Santa. The SVFD also takes free will donations at this event. As a privately owned business under the 501 c3, they cannot charge for events. 

Another Christmas tradition that has been going on for nearly 20 years, sees the firemen taking Santa out on the fire trucks and driving him around town on Christmas Eve. 

The SVFD also partners with a local Swayzee business, Chuckwagon Pizza, run by a fellow volunteer fireman, Brian Hall. 

For one week in the holiday season, instead of the regular pizza delivery methods, members of the SVFD will drive all around the area bringing the people their Chuckwagon Pizza. 

Mike Spaulding, the Deputy Fire Chief, says that the tradition is a fun one each year. 

“We actually use all the fire trucks and go deliver (the pizza) in the fire truck to everybody’s houses,” Spaulding said. “And we have several of them that we know we can make all the noise we can when we’re approaching. But it’s fun for the community.”

On top of being a fun tradition, this weeklong pizza-delivery system also works as a fundraiser for the Fire Department. 

With delivery fees and tips all going to the SVFP, the group raised just over $6,000 this year. 

The pizza fundraiser and Christmas Eve with Santa help the firemen just as much as they bring joy to the community.

“It provides a unique opportunity. We’ve been criticized for using tax dollars, but what people don’t realize is that this is area familiarization. It’s equipment or apparatus familiarization,” Bundrick said. 

The Past and the Future

Chief Tyler Bundrick said that one of the SVFD’s upcoming goals is to focus on bringing more attention to the ambulance side of the Fire Department. He said that it can be hard to get people to willingly join a group where you have to go to school for months to get certified then put your life on the line.

“Volunteerism throughout the country is dying,” Bundrick said. 

Bundrick and some of his fellow firemen joined the department due to familial legacy. Bunrick’s father was a fireman and fellow volunteer Luke Thompson is a third generation firefighter. 

But not all the members of the Fire Department have close connections to the group. When Deputy Chief Mike Spaulding moved to the Swayzee area, he said he witnessed a terrible car crash and the quick response of the SVFD where someone encouraged him to join the group. John Bryan just recently joined the department.

“I came to it late in life. I came on after I turned 50, and am still here, a year and a half later,” Bryan said. 

Firefighting also ran in the family for Robert Schick from when his great-grandfather started a department back in his hometown in Pennsylvania. 

“I was in a fire department back in my home area and thought, ‘I have free time and nothing else to do.’ It’s been fun and I don’t want to give it up,” Schick said. 

Spaulding and Bundrick both said that the SVFD is both a family within itself and is a family-focused group too. They have Thanksgivings and Christmas dinners together, they bring their families to hang out in the lounge rooms, they have awards for the volunteers every year. 

The Swayzee Volunteer Fire Department has a rich history and an active presence within the Swayzee community as all the members just want to make their little town a better and safer place to live.

The Swayzee Volunteer Fire Department is the home of several trucks well-equipped to stop all fires and emergencies in the area. SVFD Chief Tyler Bundrick called the truck pictured the department’s “baby” and his personal favorite truck to drive.