DONATED TRUCKS

In this section you will find the histroy of all the trucks that have been donated and shipped to South America. This truely personifies the dedication and commitment of Mutual Aid Americas and it's members to help our South American brothers and sisters. We shipped our first truck in January 2003 since then we have shipped many more. In this section we will bring you these great stories.

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MUTUAL AID AMERICAS SHIPS FIRST TRUCK TO ECUADOR

                                                   1/23/2003

Our first truck was a 1972 Ford. The pumper was donated from the Rockland County Fire Academy. This is the story of how Mutual Aid found our first truck. I had just returned from my first trip to Ecuador and I was looking for bunker gear and any other equipment I could get my hands on. I called the Rockland Fire Academy and spoke with the director Gordon Wren. I told him about my trip and asked him if they had any old fire equipment that wasn’t needed. I told him about firefighters running to fires without the proper PPE and airpacks. He invited me to come by and he would see what he can come up with. I wound up with a bunch of bunker gear and 27 in the box ISI airpacks. These were part of a pilot program that the Rockland Police Department initiated in 1985 and was discontinued. Most of them still had the new wrappers on them. I couldn’t believe it we had hit the Jackpot!

Gordon also starting talking to me about an old pumper that was sitting in the yard. He told me that it had been donated by a facility that used it for industrial firefighting. I checked the odometer and it only had about 2000 miles on it. It had never really been used. It had a Halle Pump. Besides a little rust, it still pumped 1000 GPM. He told me that they were getting ready to cut it up for Drill. They were doing a heavy rescue class. I asked to hold off and I would check with the Chief from the BCBG. He was thrilled and said that of course they could use it.

It took some time but we managed to work out the kinks. It was on it’s way to Guayaquil. The pumper went down and it was placed into service. I remember the first time I saw it parked in the station, I couldn’t believe it. We actually pulled it off, we got a truck from NYC to Guayaquil. I was so proud but I also was a little worried on how it would perform and drive. It was a 5 speed manual transmission. We went into the fire station and the guys were so proud of their “new pumper”. To them it was no different than if it was a 2003 model. The fire department had it painted and got rid of all the rust and it actually looked brand new. This is something that wound up becoming routine in the future. They were magicians when it came to restoring 20 - 30 year old fire trucks.

The firefighters asked me if I would like to go for a ride on the pumper. Of course, I was thrilled at the offer. The FF’s wanted me to sit up front, but I asked if I could ride in the back with the FF’s. As we pulled out of the station, I wanted to stand up. As we starting rolling through the streets, I could feel the driver shift gears, and the pumper shifted smooth as silk. It almost felt as if we were gliding, I don’t know if it was the thrill of being on the truck in Guayaquil or the actual smoothness of the ride but that ride was incredible. With the wind blowing in my face, I felt like a proud father watching a child walk for the first time.

I told the guys that I would like to take it back to my Firehouse in NYC and trade them my 2001 Seagrave. The engine has now been in service for 5 years and has responded to numerous fires in that part of the city.

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