The pumper truck at the Silver City Fire Department was in service for 30 years but went out fighting one of the largest fires in county history.
Silver City Fire Chief, Billy Rusco, said the engine was used less than a month ago to help fight the Creek County wild fires. Rusco said one minute the engine was working and the next it was out of service.
"The pressure dropped from one hundred pounds to zero," said Chief Rusco. The firefighters determined that the water pump and the transmission in the fire engine were tapped out. "If the pump goes out, it won't pump any water," said Chief Rusco.
Chief Rusco said they can't determine if the pump went out because of the demand of pumping water for hours or if time just caught up with the engine. Either way, Chief Rusco said the department is feeling the strain of being without the pumper truck. Currently, they are using a smaller pumper truck that was re-donated to them after they gave it to the Basin Volunteer Fire Department four years ago.
Chief Rusco said the volunteer fire department can’t afford the $15,000 it would take to fix the engine, let alone purchase a new one.“I mean that would just drain us right now,” Rusco said.
Their need for a new engine was answered via email.
The Brentwood Maryland Volunteer Fire Department contacted Rusco on the internet to tell them they had recently pulled an engine out of service because of age. The email told Rusco the Silver City Fire Department could have the engine if they wanted it.
“I just thought this can’t be true it was too nice looking of a truck.”
The email was true. The generous gift was worth more than $80,000 dollars and would help get the fire department back on their feet.
“Words can’t explain how I felt, like a kids in a toy store,” said Chief Rusco.
Then reality hit. The fire engine is 1,250 miles away from Silver City. With no way to get the truck from Maryland to Oklahoma, the Silver City Fire Department hopes someone will donate their time and equipment to help bring the truck to them.
“Just a little bit of help,” said Rusco, “Maybe a trucking company that could put the engine on their truck and bring it down to us or someone here could volunteer their time and their equipment.”
Chief Rusco hopes that one more act of kindness will help them, help others.
If you would like to donate or help transport the fire engine from Maryland to Oklahoma, please contact the Silver City Volunteer Fire Department at 918-865-7040.
