Exhausted volunteer firefighters battling relentless wildfires west of Fort Worth are getting some help from a friendly rival — the Fort Worth Police Department. Fort Worth police, with help from Walmart, will hold a donation drive Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Walmart at McCart Avenu e and Sycamore School Road. The department is collecting supplies for firefighters working on the front lines. The effort began after the Jermyn Volunteer Fire Department in Jack County put out a call for supplies as crews continued battling flames and resources ran low. “They actually contacted our secretary of our department, and then she reached out to me and was like, ‘You’re not going to believe this,'” said Jermyn Volunteer Fire Department Chief Robert Goodin. “Then, she told me that the Fort Worth Police Department was putting this deal on Saturday. I said, ‘no, you are right. I wouldn’t have believed it.'” Fort Worth police officer Tracy Carter said the usual friendly rivalry between police and firefighters didn’t get in the way of helping. “It’s FD. We always have our challenges with FD as a friendly joke, but we’re there to assist. And that’s what we do,” Carter said. Among the items firefighters need are hydration packs, sunscreen, lip balm, leather gloves and socks. “As weird as that may sound, you get stuck out on a fire for a long period of time; just a change of socks helps,” Goodin said. “And we’re asking if the community is able to help. We’re gonna be there; just come drop some things off. And we really appreciate it, and they appreciate it as well,” Carter said. The Jermyn Volunteer Fire Department has 10 firefighters, all volunteers, ranging in age from 30 to 76. Goodin said whatever is collected in Fort Worth and taken to Jermyn will be shared among area fire departments. The work has been grueling, with shifting winds and flames forcing firefighters to repeatedly change their approach. “Just kind of felt kind of more like defeat. You couldn’t get it. You know, you wanted to be able to handle it and then it would change directions, and we’d be back at it again,” Goodin said. Goodin said the support is especially meaningful for volunteers who give their own time to help their communities. “We don’t get paid for it. It’s our own time that we more or less donate or give up away from our families to go help those in need. And it’s just, it’s a blessing when things come back to us in the way they have,” Goodin said. The Ross Fire is large enough to be seen over North Texas cities and remains 26% contained. Its shape is expected to continue changing as the fire burns. See how big the Ross Fire would be over DFW, Waco or Austin The National Weather Service in Fort Worth said Thursday that the Ross Fire is the second-largest wildfire in our area’s history, behind the PK Complex Fire, which burned roughly 127,000 acres in 2011. To see the scale of the Ross Fire, click on a location on the map below to center the shape of the fire over any area. var pymParent = new pym.Parent('fire', 'https://visuals.otsops.com/projects/fire-compare/ross.html', {title: '', parenturlparam: '', parenturlvalue: ''}); Graphic: NBC StaffSource: National Interagency Fire Center TEXAS WILDFIRE MAPS This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC DFW. AI tools helped convert the story into a digital article, and an NBC DFW journalist edited it again before publication. ...read more read less