Don McCullough of Paisley (left), Sergeant Andy Evans and Rodney McDonald of Emergency Response Services for Latin America in Georgia with the donated 1984 International Pumper Truck from Chesley.

Hub Staff

The story of how a 1984 International Pumper Tanker became part of the Operation Nicaragua project shows the efforts of many working together throughout Bruce County.

Saugeen Shores Police Sergeant Andy Evans became aware of the availability of a fire truck in Chesley and contacted Chesley Fire Chief Rob Bell about acquiring the vehicle for Operation Nicaragua.

After hearing about the project Chief Bell wanted to donate the pumper. From there, Arran-Elderslie Deputy Mayor Marc Davis and his partner Carolyn Walker decided to purchase the pumper as a Christmas gift to each other and donated the pumper to Operation Nicaragua.

Don McCullough of McCullough’s Service Centre in Paisley did a lot of work on the truck, even travelling to the truck’s stop in Georgia to make sure it ran smoothly before its flight. “He’s replaced the drive shaft, fixed the fuel line, given it an oil change and tune-up, he's refurbished the motor on the truck essentially,” said Evans. Murray and Linda Kennedy of Paisley and their Landstar truck hauled the pumper to Georgia and covered the cost of gas.

Evans said that cost savings were provided by the Kenny’s and the Denton Program. The cost to ship is high. However, the group raised all their funds beforehand through private donations and a bumper sticker campaign where a donation of $100 would allow a bumper sticker of the donator on the firetruck.

The truck from Chesley will join four other emergency vehicles from British Columbia. Evans said the Pumper Tanker is the perfect year of vehicle to head south. “There’s no computer on board, it’s something they can fix easily, the pumping system is interchangeable with other trucks they have down there that are no longer running so if they need parts there’s going to be parts for this vehicle,” said Evans.

The 1984 Pumper will be the first donated vehicle from Ontario to join the Operation Nicaragua team. It was delivered in mid-September to the NGO base of Emergency Response Services for Latin America in Bonaire, Georgia.

Soon a convoy of two ambulances and two firetrucks from Kamloops will join it. “We donate it to that organization and they take control of it from this point on and all five trucks will be shipped down from Robins Air Force Base on humongous C5 Jets.

Anyone who has information about possible vehicle donations may contact Evans atevansport594@gmail.com.

The donated 1984 International Pumper Truck from Chesley will be travelling to Nicaragua where it will begin its second life helping the firefighters in the Central American country.

Nicaraguan firefighters who’ve received emergency vehicles from Operation Nicaragua.