According to a report from Patch, to generations of Glen Cove (NY) Fire Department (GCFD) firefighters, Ladder 5211 was more than a piece of fire apparatus—it was a “trusted comrade”.
So, when it was decommissioned two years ago, it avoided a ignominious and instead ended up not on the scrap heap but bound for a new life across the Atlantic Ocean to — above all places — Dublin, Ireland.
The historic truck, retired after 32 years of service with the GCFD, was celebrated on Wednesday in a grand ceremony with police escorts as it made its way to Newark, New Jersey, en route to its new home with a charity in Dublin, Ireland, that makes visits to sick children in hospitals.
In a Facebook post prior to the truck’s departure, the GCFD wrote: “Today, we say goodbye to Ladder 5211, one of [a] few tiller trucks operating on Long Island.
“Ladder 5211 has been more than a piece of fire apparatus, but a trusty comrade in service to the Glen Cove Volunteer Fire Department for over 32 years. The chiefs and members of the department could not be happier that her legacy will be preserved and she will be used for charitable purposes in Dublin, Ireland.”
The truck, which brought multiple victims to safety in a dramatic rescue from a 1993 apartment complex fire and stood by after the 9/11 terror attacks, had multiple police escorts, which included the Nassau County, New York, and Port Authority Police Departments.
GCFD Chief Marvin Tate said, “It could not have happened to a better truck.”
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