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Lehigh Fire Department website

The best we can tell this is not a Call The Cops type story but a legitimate effort by a fire chief of a department in Iowa that serves three towns. Lehigh Fire Department Chief Kirk Kelley apparently will have to go a while on his hunger strike because the gofundme.com site set up for the campaign so far only has a few hundred dollars of the half-million that’s needed. The department is all volunteer and handles as many as 7o calls each year.

In November, 2011 the department responded to a fire at Chief Kelley’s home.

Chief Kelley is providing updates on the hunger strike on the department’s Facebook page. here is part of his report from Day 1:

Day 1 is almost in the books and you wouldn’t believe how many people think I am joking of course if someone told me the same thing I would find it hard to believe. Today has definitely been a battle but worth it we raised $110 thank you to Jordan and Krista Wineinger for you donation of $100 and to Luke and Lindsey Winkelman for your donation of $10 in memory of Nick Hildreth a Rockwell City firefighter who passed away on 6/17/14.

WeAreIowa.com:

Lehigh Volunteer Fire Chief Kirk Kelley says he is on a hunger strike until nearly $500,000 is raised to fund a new firehouse for his department. Kelley says he got the idea from studying Gandhi, and researched the best practices for fasting for several weeks. He says he’s prepared by cutting his portion sizes and fasting for periods lasting from 12 to 48 hours.