ATHENS, W.Va. – The Athens Volunteer Fire Department is helping out another fire department located in Hampton, Tennessee by donating the department one of their own fire trucks.
Athens Fire Chief Roger Lokay says the department decided to donate one of their older trucks to the Hampton Valley Forge Fire Department after one of their trucks suffered mechanical failure during rescue missions caused by the remnants of Hurricane Helene.
Lokay says the department originally wanted to sell the fire truck to help pay for a replacement but they weren’t having much luck over the summer.
After connecting with members from a local food bank called Helpful Harvest who were helping in eastern Tennessee, Lokay says he connected with those from the Hampton Valley Forge Fire Department who expressed their need for a new truck.
He says donating the truck made the most sense.
“We just want to donate it to another department that can use it. A new truck right now stripped down is about $800,000. Any truck that’s running in good condition that can still pass all the tests that it needs to can go be used somewhere else,” said Lokay.
“We had hydraulic issues during rescues during the flood. We kind of just had to put it down. It was kind of a blessing in disguise,” said Keelan Townsend, a firefighter at Hampton Valley Forge Fire Department.
Townsend and others picked up the fire truck on Tuesday evening.
Lokay says the department had the truck since 2010 and mainly used it as a reserve unit.
In October, the Summers County Volunteer Fire Department also donated a truck to the Southside Volunteer Fire Department located in eastern Tennessee.
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