June 16, 2000 Fire Truck Heads For The Border - Greenwich Time

After being in reserve for seven years, the Round Hill Fire Department's 1969 American LaFrance fire truck is going back on duty.

The truck has left the Greenwich station en route to Ecuador, where it will be used to fight fires once again.

Evan Delman, assistant fire chief at Round Hill Fire Department, drove the fire truck to Staten Island, N.Y., on Wednesday, where it will be shipped to Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador, on Monday.
Now that the fire truck is set to go, Delman says, "I'm really excited about going down to Ecuador É they desperately want it."

Delman will travel to Ecuador to train firefighters to use the fire truck's pump and hose, as well as how to put out a fire.

The assistant fire chief said the American LaFrance, now valued at between $10,000 and $14,000, was the first diesel fire truck in Greenwich. It fought its last fire in 1993 and then was replaced by a new LaFrance in 1993 that cost about $300,000.

Since the Round Hill station bought a new fire truck, Delman, 35, a Greenwich resident, has been completing the necessary paperwork so the 1969 American LaFrance can be transported to Ecuador.

As a member of the White Plains Rotary Club, Delman got the idea to send the truck to Ecuador from fellow club member Dorila Misquero, who provides assistance to Ecuador. Misquero, an Ecuador native, has sent the country dental equipment and helped with its schools.

The 1969 LaFrance will be the first piece of fire-fighting apparatus in the area, according to Delman. The fire truck will be the only piece for 100 miles in Ecuador, he said.

"It's still a very effective piece of machinery," Delman said of the older truck. He said the 1969 fire truck can pump 1,000 gallons per minute whereas the new LaFrance pumps 1,500 gallons per minute.

The cost of shipping the fire engine, $840, is being covered by a shipping company in Ecuador, Delman said.

The White Plains Rotary Club donated about $2,000 to buy a new floating pump for the fire truck before it was shipped off. A floating pump supplies the truck with water.

Aside from volunteering as a firefighter, Delman works as a chiropractor in White Plains, N.Y. Since 1994 he has been a member of the White Plains chapter of the Rotary Club, a worldwide organization that raises money and donates it to people in need, and is one of several firefighters who currently teaches firefighting classes in Greenwich.