The trees at 3053 Greenfield Drive in Dover Township were trimmed by Glenn Jansen Jr., son of the township's fire chief and department president.
Dover Township volunteer firefighter Colin Harner mowed the overgrown grass, while firefighter Travis Gladfelter volunteered to collect leaves. Grant Froman, a fire policeman, installed a new kitchen floor.
In the end, the modest-looking, two-story home that had gone into foreclosure got a firefighter facelift. The department bought the home last month, completed the work along with contractors, and, on Monday, listed the home for sale — all for a fundraiser.
It's most likely the first fundraiser of its kind in the area, said Brian Widmayer, deputy fire chief. Think "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," but instead of Ty Pennington working on the home, your local volunteer firefighters do renovations.
After all, the public can only do so much when it comes to bake sales and chicken dinner fundraisers, Widmayer said.
"We're not only trying to train and fight fires," he said, "we're trying to make (the public's) donations go further without putting an additional strain on them."
Widmayer said he's fielded a few phone calls from people who are interested to find out more about the 4-bedroom house, which is being listed for $159,900. You can call Widmayer for a tour. And the house is move-in ready.
There were no formal offers as of Tuesday afternoon.
The home will be equipped with carbon monoxide detectors and two fire extinguishers. The department tells residents to always install the fire safety equipment, but wanted to practice what it preached, Widmayer said.
Painters turned the outside of the home from canary yellow with white shutters to tan with black shutters.
Firefighters even received positive feedback from the next door neighbors.
"The day we bought it, we chopped down the overgrowth," Widmayer said. "(The neighbors) were like, 'What are you guys doing?'"
The firefighters responded, "We're your new neighbors."
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