The Cobb County Fire Department has sent help to another department hundreds of miles away. They are donating a spare fire engine to a volunteer fire department in New York after that area lost three trucks due to Hurricane Sandy.
When Sandy slammed into the Eastern Seaboard in October, it devastated West Hamilton Beach in Queens, New York and took out the volunteer fire department.
West Hamilton Beach Volunteer Fire Chief Jonah Cohen told All News 106.7's Trey Thomas that the storm surge from the superstorm went up to the windshields of the fire trucks.
Now they are getting mutual aid from the Cobb County Fire and Emergency Services. Cobb County Fire Chief Sam Heaton said that he hopes the engine does what it needs to do in West Hamilton beach.
Chief Heaton presented the title to Engine 34 to the Terrry Farrell Firefighters Fund on Wednesday. The organization is named after a New York Firefighter who lost his life saving others on September 11th.
Engine 34 here has been in service in Cobb County since the early 1990s. It has more than 170,000 miles on it, but there is still plenty of mileage left to service a volunteer fire department.
Sean Gray with the Terry Farrell Firefighters Fund said that the engine will help the firefighters in New York to start responding to calls again.
Cobb County rolled out two new engines both worth $1 million this week paid for with SPLOST funds approved by voters. Officials say Cobb County residents are fortunate enough to have a fire department and the funds to pay for it while West Hamilton Beach relies on fundraisers. Chief Cohen says their volunteer department cannot raise even $250,000 a year.
Engine 34 will arrive in Queens, New York in about a week.
The Roswell Fire Department also donated a fire engine to another department hit hard by Hurricane Sandy.
Wednesday, June 19 2013 11:19 PM EDT2013-06-20 03:19:10 GMT
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