Retired fire engine gets new lease on life; now saving lives in central Mexico

A local fire department breathes new life into an old fire truck that was once headed for the scrap heap.

Clallam County’s is donating an aging fire engine to a city in Mexico.

According to myclallamcounty.com, the fire truck will continue its long history of battling blazes, rescuing victims and saving lives, in Guanajuato, Mexico.

The 1991 Pierce engine started its long life of service in the city of Port Angeles.

Then in 2011, the Port Angeles Fire Department donated it to Clallam Two Fire Rescue.

For years, it served as a reserve engine for both Port Angeles and Clallam County.

But after more than three decades in service, the truck no longer meets federal standards for first response emergency vehicles in the United States.

Clallam County originally planned to scrap the retired fire engine.

The plan was to use it for replacement parts on other emergency vehicles.

Then Clallam Two Deputy Fire Chief Kevin Denton learned about a program called “Hero Saver.”

That’s a Washington-based organization founded by a captain at the East Olympia Fire Deparment.

The program supports firefighting and rescue efforts internationally, as well as in the U.S., with equipment upgrades, training programs, and humanitarian and disaster relief.

The Hero Saver network identified a city south of the U.S.-Mexico border, in central Mexico that was in need of equipment.

In that region, regulations on performance standards are different than those in the U.S., because resources are limited.

Deputy Chief Denton told myclallamcounty.com he’s pleased to know the old engine can still be a big help in other parts of the world:

We know there’s still a lot of life left in this engine, but obviously we’re kind of limited with regulations here.  But, down in other countries like Mexico, they desperately need equipment like this. And so, for us to be able to get a second life, essentially, for it, and we know it’s going to be put to good use down there. So we were more than happy to partner with them to get it a new home.”

The 1990s-era fire truck was last put to use locally in Port Angeles, where firefighters used it to collect Food Bank donations during Operation Candy Cane in the city’s neighborhoods.

But the retired engine has since been relocated In Mexico.

In fact, it has already been in the middle of rescues involving medical emergencies.

One of its first responses in Mexico involved helping victims at an industrial accident involving injuries.

But it’s not just aging fire trucks that are helping in other countries.

Clallam Two Fire and Rescue also has donated outdated wildland firefighting gear, to cities in need in other nations, to help them manage wildfires.

That equipment, just like the old truck, no longer passes U.S. regulatory standards for use in our country.

While it doesn’t pass muster here in the states, for fire departments in other countries, where there’s a shortage of that kind of gear, it remains invaluable.