PORT ALLEN - Members of a volunteer fire department, founded ninety years ago, say it's time to hang up their gear as the Port Allen Fire Department dwindles in numbers.

Volunteers say there are plans to unveil a monument honoring generations of firefighters who volunteered their time to the city.

When duty calls, the right people make all the difference, and for nearly 50 years, Barry Brewer has shown up for Port Allen. When he was 22, his father, a volunteer firefighter, said it was time he gave back to the community.

"They put me up on the roof, gave me a hose, and said to pour the water," Brewer said.

The department was started more than 90 years ago, but the numbers aren't what they used to be.

"There's something inside of us that makes us get out of bed at two in the morning on the interstate to help get somebody out of a car," Volunteer captain Emile White said.

To honor the closing department, volunteers put together the money collected from years of chicken-dinner fundraisers.

"This is money we've saved over the years," Brewer said. "[It was] the most prudent way we could think of to use our funds was to go ahead and have this memorial made up for all who have served."