DONALDS -- It's about 800 miles from 445 W. Main St. in Donalds to Denville, N.J., and in a fire truck, 800 miles makes for a long ride.
Four Donalds Volunteer Fire Department members spent Thursday and Friday driving 1,600 miles round-trip to New Jersey to pick up a bright-red pumper engine from Denville Volunteer Fire & Rescue.
"It was worth it, but I'm not doing it again anytime soon," Assistant Fire Chief Ronnie Vaughn said Monday. Vaughn, along with Fire Chief Gavin Magaha, 1st Lt. Jay Drucker and 2nd Lt. Clay Martin, left Donalds about 4 p.m. Thursday and returned at 11 p.m. Friday. "It was a very, very long trip."
The exchange is part of a connection forged more than 20 years ago by one fireman: Hobart "Hobie" Erickson.
A former firefighter and fire chief in Denville, Erickson moved to Donalds in 1986. In April 1989, the New Jersey department sold a reduced-price 1965 Ford Pumper to Donalds VFD.
"Hobie's from New Jersy, so in a simple sense, they take care of us," Drucker said. "This is the second truck we've received from them, and multiple truckloads of equipment, over the years."
The truck, a 1988 Hahn, will replace outdated equipment, including another pumper and a service truck.
"It's going to respond to everything we have but a grass fire," Drucker said. "It's an engine that we didn't have the funds to purchase at value."
The engine will be in service in about two weeks after equipment is transferred, parts are tested and the lettering is redone -- currently it reads "Union Hill Co. 2 Denville N.J."
"It doesn't sound like a lot, but it's going to take us a while," Drucker said.
Donalds VFD was chartered Dec. 13, 1977, and has 30 members. It serves the town and about 40 square miles surrounding the station, and it provides backup to Broad Mouth-Turkey Creek, Keowee, Due West and Cold Springs, Ware Shoals and Hodges-Cokesbury.
A fully volunteer department, it receives much of its money through fundraisers, such as a barbecue chicken plate sale June 28.
"It was an experience. These engines aren't designed to go that far at a time," Drucker said of the 1,600-mile shopping trip. "We would just like to thank Hobie, the Denville VFD, their chief (John J. Egbert) and Federated Fire. Hopefully, it's going to serve us for another 10 or 15 years."
Republished with permission from The Index Journal
