A holiday trip seven years ago to Nicaragua set in motion a dream for a Whitehorse firefighter to help out some poorly-equipped firefighters in that country. Mike Martin saw an urgent need in Nicaragua, so he started searching for retired emergency equipment in B.C. and the Yukon, including pumper trucks and ambulances.
Now he's got two fire trucks, from Faro and Whitehorse, ready to be given a second life in Central America.
Many fire departments across Nicaragua had been destroyed during the country's revolution. Since then, volunteer firefighters in Nicaragua have been working to rebuild and re-supply their emergency services.
Martin's idea grew into a partnership with the fire department based in Kamloops, B.C., called "Project Nicaragua", which has found and donated nine firefighting trucks to Nicaragua over the last seven years.
One of the trucks was donated jointly by the volunteer fire departments in Skagway, Alaska and Carcross. Another, Martin bought in Prince Rupert, B.C. for $5,600.
Two of the fire trucks are now in a town called Chinandega.
Martin says there are cities in Nicaragua with over 100,000 people, and no firefighting equipment or ambulance capability.
He says even old equipment can be useful.
"We might be sending a truck down that doesn't even have a pump that is working. As an example, they would just use it as a water tanker, put on a portable water pump on the back, re-jig it so it works for them, and do their fire fighting."