Slave Lake fire truck on its way to Mexico
Photo: Taking delivery of the fire truck last summer is Grand Prairie Rotary Club representative Allan Kuechle with Slave Lake Rotary Club President Ali Mouallem and Lesser Slave Regional Fire Service chief Jamie Coutts.
Fleet in Idaho Falls March 7, 2010
With the help of the SLave Lake Rotary Club, a used yet re-furbished fire truck from Slave Lake is on its way to help communities in Mexico and should reach its destination this weekend.
The 2010 Highway to Mexico crew set off from Grande Prairie at 6:15 a.m. Friday, March 5 for their annual 5,000-kilometre road trip to Mazatlan.
The Slave Lake truck is one of four fire trucks that is being delivered this year along with an ambulance and a handicapped-accessible bus.
The Grande Prairie and Edson Rotary Road Crew- Las Vegas, Nevada March 8, 2010
The vehicles are being driven from Alberta to Mazatlan by a team of volunteer Rotarians from Grande Prairie and Edson with 2 drivers per vehicle. They are expected to arrive in Mexico around March 11 and once there, the vehicles will be driven to the communities.
You can follow the progress of the trip by clicking on to the ROTARY TO MEXICO 2010 blog.
Dinner at Timberline, Beaver, Utah March 7, 2010.
For 8 years the Highway to Mexico program has donated and delivered fire trucks, school buses and ambulances to Mazatlan.
Last summer Rotarians from Grande Prairie picked up the fire truck that the Slave Lake Rotary Club had procured from the regional fire service and the Town.
“When the Grande Prairie Rotarians were here they told us about their last fleet delivery that also included a used school bus,” said Mouallem.
The big yellow school bus was clearly a big hit in the village where some students walk as many as eight kilometers – one way – every day. It’s a distance that makes some parents keep their daughters home – and consequently uneducated, he added.
“One of the Rotarians offered to take some kids for a quick ride around the village, and when the ride was over another counted 150 kids getting off the 48-passenger bus!”
In fact, the arrival of the school bus also prompted officials in that area to actually build a road to the remote community’s school, he added.
Mouallem said the emergency vehicle fleet program in Grande Prairie has been going on for several years.
He applauded the Town of Slave Lake for donating its used fire truck to the local Rotary club. He also said Regional Fire Service Fire Chief Jamie Coutts indicated that some members from his volunteer squads had offered to go to Mexico to help train volunteer firefighters there.
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