Mariners Cruz has supplied his hometown with fire trucks, ambulances and more

The Mariners are smoking hot, and where there’s smoke there’s usually fire. But if real flames ever broke out, the first person who’d likely rush to put them out is M’s slugger Nelson Cruz.

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Ever since he was called up to the big leagues, Nelson Cruz has done whatever he can to help his impoverished hometown in the Dominican Republic, along with the entire country. But when disaster hit close to home, he realized he needed to do even more.

“One of my friends, his house just burned [down] completely because we don’t have a fire truck in my hometown. So that spring training I asked the trainers how we can get a fire truck. I need to buy a fire truck,” Cruz said.

He was still with the Texas Rangers at the time. And Cruz had no idea how big of an undertaking he was getting into.

“We started looking online and it was so expensive. It’s was like $300,000, $200,000. I was like, ‘that’s my pay check. I can’t afford that,'” Cruz laughed.

Cruz worked with the Arlington Fire Department and they managed to not only buy and outfit a truck, but two ambulances as well for Las Matas Santa Cruz. Cruz donated $20,000 of his own money for the project.

“It’s definitely something that I’m proud of because I’m walking the street and people stop me [and say] ‘I have to thank you because you and the ambulance you brought, my dad or my mom…is alive’…and it’s amazing,” Cruz said.

The slugger didn’t stop there. After joining the Mariners, he made a trip home during the off-season last year and discovered another glaring need. The local firefighters didn’t have essential equipment like jackets and helmets.

So he reached out to the Seattle Fire Department to see if they could help. It didn’t take much to convince Chief Harold Scoggins to sign on.

“The ‘why’ was important for me because he had helped his hometown fire department in the Dominican Republic in the past, so I saw that he had a passion for it,” Scoggins said.

Thank you @SeattleFire for the donations for my hometown pic.twitter.com/zxnmAgvAuw

— Nelson Cruz (@ncboomstick23) January 22, 2016

It wasn’t long before Scoggins and the Seattle Fire Department had come up with a U-Haul sized truck of used gear that had outlived its useful life here, including boots, pants, jackets and gloves.

“It feels great. And we know that many fire departments around the world don’t have the tools and equipment that they need to be successful. And if we can make a donation of some of our tools and equipment, that’s important,” Scoggins said.

It’s enough for not only Cruz’s hometown, but far beyond. He says the gear will be distributed to fire departments across the region of his country, serving upwards of 200,000 people.

“It’d definitely something they appreciated,” Cruz said.

But the real question is when Cruz is going to trade in his batting helmet for a firefighters’.

“I have a friend, he’s a fire chief in Santo Domingo. He says ‘you know, you have a chance to come here.’ We always joke around about when are you going to be a firefighter. Probably next year I’m going to do it,” Cruz said.

And Chief Scoggins has no doubt Cruz has what it takes to join the force.

“Absolutely. He’s smart, he’s calm, he’s cool, collected. He’s been in a lot of pressure situations…he’s a big strong individual, so I think he’d be more than successful as a firefighter,” Scoggins said.

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