BUXTON – Fire Chief Jeff Grinnell was busy planning a campaign of bottle drives and bean suppers to raise money for his department when two strangers visited his home and handed him a $100,000 check.

The donors, Erwin and Patricia Wales of Buxton, won $41.4 million in a Powerball drawing last month.

Like everyone else in town, Grinnell knew the couple’s names. But he was unprepared for what followed the introductions.

“My guys told me they wanted to make a donation. I thought, that’s nice. But most donations are $10 or $20,” Grinnell said. “Six figures! I was speechless.”

“They said they wanted to make a donation to the fire department, and they want to just give back,” he said.

The only condition accompanying the gift is that some of the money must be used to buy a thermal-imaging camera.

The cameras, which allow firefighters to see through smoke to find people who may be trapped, cost $18,000 to $25,000, making them too expensive for many small departments. Grinnell’s entire budget last year was $120,000.

The rest of the money went into the Buxton Volunteer Fire Association fund. Grinnell set up a committee to accept suggestions on how it should be spent.

“Per their letter, it’s to be used on equipment for the department,” Grinnell said.

The couple’s gift came within two days of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that killed New York firefighters trying to save thousands of people from the World Trade Center.

Grinnell said the contrast between such destruction and such generosity made an enormous impact on his department.

“On one hand you’ve got yourself a national tragedy, and on the other hand you have someone doing something totally opposite. It was a bright spot in a dark time,” Grinnell said.