North Okanagan fire truck flown to Guatemala for new lease of life
The Armstrong Spallumcheen Fire Department’s ladder truck served the area faithfully for 30 years, and now it’s going to help a community in Guatemala.
The fire department wasn’t sure what it was going to do with the truck since it was too old to meet Canadian requirements but it still has some life left in it.
With help from the disaster relief organization Amedica the truck found a new home in San Marcos, Guatemala, according to a press release.
“The Pierce Tele-Squirt Aerial fire truck has served both of our communities well for many years. We are glad to see a country, such as Guatemala, greatly benefit from this donation,” Armstrong Mayor Joe Cramer said in the release.
The truck arrived in the Okanagan back in 1992 and its donation was approved back in May 2023. It was loaded onto a plane and flew more than 21 hours to its new job.
San Marcos has a population of 47,000 people who were excited to see the truck’s arrival last week on April 9.
“The truck was driven home by its new fire station that evening and greeted by the entire city of San Marcos the next morning when it received the traditional baptism of hose streams and was blessed by the local priest,” Amedica’s president Neale Brown said in the release.
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