Central Illinois communities donate fire vehicle to New Jersey
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[December 06, 2012]
SPRINGFIELD -- Hurricane Sandy
caused massive destruction along the East Coast, destroying homes,
businesses and critical infrastructure. While the recovery will take
a long time, a fire truck donated by an Illinois community will go
along way toward helping one hard-hit New Jersey community recover.
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The fire truck, donated by the Rutland-Dundee Fire Protection
District, was en route to Union Beach, N.J., on a freight train
Monday thanks to a cooperative effort between the fire protection
district, the Office of the State Fire Marshal, the Illinois
Emergency Management Agency and CSX Transportation. Shortly after
the storm struck the East Coast, Rutland-Dundee FPD Fire Chief
Richard Thomas contacted State Fire Marshal Larry Matkaitis, saying
his department had a fire truck they could donate. Thomas was aware
that the fire department in Union Beach, N.J., had suffered
extensive damage from the storm and needed the truck, but he didn't
know how to get it to them.
Matkaitis contacted IEMA Director Jonathon Monken, whose agency
has established public-private partnerships with several businesses.
Monken contacted CSX, which made arrangements to deliver the fire
truck to New Jersey at no charge. The 1984 Pierce Dash Pumper was
loaded onto a CSX railcar Monday morning and is expected to arrive
in New Jersey within a week.
"This is what fire departments in Illinois do; we help our
neighbors in need," said Thomas.
"This is a great example of pulling together to help our fellow
firefighters and our fellow Americans in their time of need," said
Matkaitis.
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"Gov. Quinn asked us to take every reasonable measure to help the
citizens impacted by Hurricane Sandy," said Monken. "We appreciate
the tremendous effort by CSX to ensure this fire truck gets to Union
Beach as soon as possible."
"CSX is proud to support efforts of first responders to assist
their colleagues in the wake of Hurricane Sandy," said Tom
Livingston, Midwest regional vice president of government affairs
for CSX.
The fire truck isn't the first hurricane assistance from Illinois
to New Jersey. In mid-November, Quinn deployed 29 Illinois State
Police officers and 25 local law enforcement officers to help Union
Beach and other New Jersey communities with public safety.
Twenty-two other Illinois first responders were deployed to New York
City and Long Island to assist with hurricane response and recovery.
[Text from
Illinois
Emergency Management Agency file received from
the
Logan County Emergency Management Agency]
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