Applied Digital donation boosts Jamestown fire rescue gear upgrade effort

Battery-powered extrication tools could help Jamestown Rural firefighters cut, pry and stabilize wrecked vehicles faster when a driver is pinned in a rollover or crash on Highway 52, Highway 281 or a Stutsman County road. Applied Digital Corp. donated $43,326 to help the department replace rescue gear that dates to the 1990s, moving the department to within $2,674 of its $46,000 Giving Hearts Day goal.

The department said its current hydraulic tools depend on a heavy gas-engine pump and about 12 feet of hose, a setup that is slower and less flexible than modern battery-operated equipment. That matters in rural rescue work, where crews may be dealing with wind, snow or rough access and need gear that can be moved quickly from one side of a vehicle to the other. The department has also said newer cars and trucks are built with high-strength alloyed metals, including boron rods, that call for stronger cutting tools than the older equipment can provide.

Applied Digital’s gift fits into its broader community giving through Applied Digital Cares. The company said its spring 2026 grant cycle totaled $619,595 across 34 community projects in North Dakota, including support for fire departments and emergency equipment. In practical terms, the Jamestown donation is going into the part of public safety where seconds matter most, giving firefighters and rescue crews more portable tools and better vehicle stabilization gear when a crash turns into a life-threatening entrapment.

That local need carries added weight in Jamestown Rural Fire Department territory. The department says it has protected life and property since 1949 and serves one of the largest fire districts in North Dakota, a geography that stretches the impact of every piece of equipment it buys. A faster extrication setup can help the department work more effectively on its own or alongside mutual-aid partners when a serious wreck happens outside city limits.

The donation also follows a pattern of continuing equipment pressure. In August 2024, the department received a $198,000 equipment grant, and later that year it solicited proposals to replace existing self-contained breathing apparatus units. Together, those efforts show a rural fire department still modernizing the gear it uses to reach trapped crash victims and protect responders on the county’s longest stretches of road.