Twenty years ago, South Jersey firefighter Angel M. Romero Jr. attended a wedding in a small east Texas town. He asked if he could check out the local firehouse and was amazed by what he saw. They were still using a 1940s-era American LaFrance fire truck.
That visit was eye-opening for Romero, a member of Monroeville Volunteer Fire Company in Salem County, and he decided he needed to help this Texas fire company update its equipment.
He reached out to Bridgeport Volunteer Fire Department in Logan Township to ask about a vehicle they had that was no longer in service. He was able to arrange delivery of that truck to Texas and it remains in service 20 years later.
Since then, he has arranged for donations of old fire trucks and used equipment on 10 to 15 occasions, he estimates. Companies around South Jersey have contributed equipment. Most of the donations go to companies in southern states, he said.
The latest donation comes courtesy of Erial Fire Company in Gloucester Township, which is sending a 1990 Grumman pumper truck to the fire company in Coffee City, Texas, a rural community east of Dallas.