KMXT 100.1 FM Public Radio in Kodiak, Alaska
Old Harbor has a new fire truck. Well, at least a new used one.
Old Harbor Mayor, Rick Berns, says the 1983,750-gallon Ford Grumman fire engine came from Bayside Fire Department in Kodiak.
“They were surplussing out and getting new equipment and we said yeah, we’d love to have it. So, we contacted them and went through the paperwork and such and they sent it down. They put it on the ferry. Luckily we had the ferry running. And so it got here this summer and now we have a working fire truck or the community,” said Berns.
Bayside Fire says the engine arrived mid-July.
Bayside got two new fire engines in June.
Chief Howard Rue says the department reached out to Kodiak villages to see whether any communities wanted to take the old engine, and Old Harbor responded.
Mayor Berns says the community had a fire truck with engine trouble.
He says their new truck has attachments that fit hydrants strategically placed throughout the community.
Bayside Fire Department plans to send a representative to Old Harbor to train community members on how to use the new truck.
Berns says discussions at the Kodiak College rural leadership forum this past fall sparked the idea to recycle the truck to Old Harbor.
