N.S. fire department receives hundreds of donation offers after tires stolen

The deputy chief of a Nova Scotia fire department was in disbelief this weekafter discovering four tires hadbeen stolen from an emergency vehicle parked outside the station.

But after receivinghundreds of messages from people wanting to help, the only thing Jason MacIntyre can't believe now is the generosity of strangers on the internet.

"You know, first thing in the morning, your faith in humanity is completely destroyed. And by the end of the day, it's renewed," MacIntyre said Thursday, oneday after the tires went missing from an SUV at the East River Valley volunteer fire department.

He posted photos of the vehicle hoisted up on cement blocks to the fire department's Facebook page and was shocked to see support pour in.

"Itjust completely blew up. From there, it went everywhere," he said."I literally started getting Facebook messages from people that I didn't know within 10minutes."

He saidmore than 200 people reached out to himsome local and some evenfrom across the globeoffering to make donations to cover the cost of new tires and rims.

"I get a message from a fellow saying, 'Hey Jason,you don't know me ... I'm so-and-so messaging you from New Zealand,'" said MacIntyre. "He was wanting to donate $100 Canadian."

Local businesses stepped in, includingAndy's Tire Shop. It donated four brand new tires andagreed to put them on free of charge. Others chipped in to donate the rims and locking lug nuts, which need a key to be removed.

"Itis something that does make you feel pretty good," said Andrew Pye,the tire shop's president.

Pye and his team said they hope to have the fire department's SUVback on the road within a few days.

"It's unfortunate that this situation happened in the first place, but really, the whole community came together here. And now the fire department is going to be back up and running here injust a couple of days solely through community donations," said Pye.

People also donatedtwo security cameras for the department, hopefully to prevent a similar theft from happening in the future.

MacIntyre said all the messages and donations the department received have renewed his faith in humanity. He's asking anyone who still wants to help out to make a donation to a hospital burn unit.

"For every one bad person, there's hundreds that aren't. And yesterday, as bad as it started out, I'm not even angry about it anymore," he said."It's justcompletely turned my attitude around towards everything."