Fire Chief Lee Powell said the board decided to move forward with the campaign in response to rising costs, and flat funding from the county.

STEWARTSVILLE, Va. – A Bedford County firefighter found himself on the other side of a house fire this weekend. Joe Moore of the Stewartsville-Chamblissburg Volunteer Fire Department lost everything after his house on Lookout Ridge Road went up in flames Sunday morning. “To see it from start to finish was an out of body experience,” Moore said. Moore has been a volunteer firefighter for nine years, but had never experienced a fire while out of uniform before his house burned down. You can send donations to the Stewartsville-Chamblissburg Volunteer Fire Department at 7797 Jordantown Road, Vinton, VA, 24179.