Nicaragua 2020 - leon

GlobalFire was contacted by Patricia and Javier who had an aerial fire truck in Toronto, donated by Dependable Emergency Vehicles, that they wanted to send to Nicaragua and we were more than happy to help. We got in touch with Jorge Narveaz, a retired police officer from the USA who was born and raised in Nicaragua. Jorge had experience shipping fire trucks to Nicaragua and helped us connect with the Benemérito Cuerpo de Bomberos de León who could put the truck to good use. Once the destination for the firetruck was established, we reached out to the United States Air Force (USAF) through the Denton Program to coordinate logistics. The Denton program agreed to fly our fire truck on a C-5 Galaxy from the Air Force base in Niagara Falls, USA. In preparation for the flight, our volunteers installed new batteries in the fire truck and constructed pedestals to secure the truck on the plane.

Because of COVID-19 restrictions, our firefighter volunteers were unable to drive the truck from Toronto across the border to the Niagara Falls USAF base and we decided on having the truck towed instead. From Niagara Falls, the USAF flew the fire truck to Managua, Nicaragua on July 27th where it was collected by the Benemérito Cuerpo de Bomberos de León. The truck was driven through the streets of León with lights and sirens blaring to announce its arrival. Griselda, a volunteer firefighter in León, wrote a letter of appreciation: "I believe you would have enjoyed its arrival as we did and you could have seen for yourself all the happiness and joy that all of my comrades experienced.... Words cannot describe how thankful we are."

The truck is now in use in León, Nicaragua, ready to save lives!