GOLD HILL — A firefighter’s helmet that fell off the side of an East Gold Hill Volunteer Fire Department truck was returned to the department on Saturday. The department offered a reward for the helmet after fire officials said that a truck driving by took the helmet from the scene and did not immediately return it.

The helmets cost over $1,000 according to fire officials and the lost helmet was brand new. The helmet was lost on U.S. Hwy. 52 as the fire department responded to a fire alarm on Liberty Road some time last week.

Fire Chief Matt Brock said that the man who returned the helmet came by a few times and found no one at the station. Gold Hill Fire Department is a fully volunteer department and does not have someone at the station at all hours of the day. On Saturday, however, the man managed to find Brock at the station and returned the helmet to him.

“He came by and said ‘I bet you want this back,’ and I was like ‘you bet I do.’ He gave it to me and I asked him if he wanted the reward, which he didn’t even know about. He said he hadn’t worked in a year and that it’d really help him out,” said Brock.

Brock also said that he offered the man all the money he happened to have in his wallet at the time, which amounted to $60.