Kingston Volunteer Fire Company Donates Fire Truck To Puerto Rico

On Friday, April 19th at 5 PM, Kingston Volunteer Fire Company (KVFC) and South Brunswick Fire District #3 held a ceremony at their firehouse to hand over the title for their 1988 Spartan 3D
Engine to Chief Eulando Piñero of the Metro Emergency Response Team (MERT) of Bayamon City, Puerto Rico. Following a blessing by Rev. Sharyl Dixon of the Kingston Presbyterian Church, KVFC Chief George Luck, Jr. gave a brief history of the events that led to this moment, and Agostino Racanati presented to Chief Piñero the title to the superbly maintained truck, fully stocked with supplies and equipment donated by other local fire departments, and bearing its new identity, MERT, in gold lettering.

It all began last year, when Eulando Piñero, Fire Chief of the Metro Emergency Response Team
of Bayamon, Puerto Rico, reached out for help in the wake of Hurricane Maria. Bayamon is Puerto Rico's second-largest municipality and is part of the metropolitan area centered on San Juan. In a letter to the Bridgewater Board of Fire Commissioners District #4, he explained the plight of his
volunteer fire department, which is the only volunteer fire department in Puerto Rico, and a registered 501(c)(3) organization. The district that is their immediate response area of six towns is staffed by just one firefighter per shift, with one outdated fire truck in service. When New
York City Fire Department's Incident Management Teams were on the island to assist after Maria hit, they were shocked by the inadequacy of staffing and the condition of the equipment.

The plea for equipment and supplies quickly circulated among central New Jersey's local
fire departments, and the timing was right.

KVFC had a new truck, and was about to retire the 1988 Spartan. The donated engine had been bought in July 2017 by South Brunswick Fire District #3 from South Brunswick Township Fire District #2 (where it had ably served the Monmouth Junction Fire Department for 28 years),
because a Kingston engine had motor problems, and was determined not cost effective to repair. The Spartan was placed in service to the community on August 5, 2017 as Engine #3 (243). It served faithfully until a new engine could be ordered and built. When the new 2019 K.M.E. engine was placed in active service at noon on March 30, 2019, the 1988 engine was retired from service--and needed a new home.

One of the MERT team will be flying up to New Jersey to drive the Spartan to Florida, where it will be shipped to Puerto Rico. In taking title, Chief Piñero expressed gratitude for the many firefighters who participated in this project, and for how much more his company will be able to do to help and protect the citizens of Bayamon. In a tribute to all who made this donation possible, one of the key partners, Captain Borke of the New Brunswick Fire Department, said of the brotherhood/sisterhood of firefighters, "It is so strong that it almost brings tears to my eyes." Police officer Fedor Salvador of the North Brunswick Police Department also spoke of the
network that came together to provide equipment, supplies and support for their brothers in Puerto Rico.