Meadowmere Park Fire District lends a helping hand north of the border

The Meadowmere Park Fire District is looking to lend a helping hand to a department located north of the border and nearly 1,000 miles away.

A special vote will be held on March 10 on the proposed sale of a 2006 Crimson Spartan Heavy Rescue Truck for $165,000 to the Sydney River Volunteer Fire Department in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Fire District Commissioner Andrew Schmitt said that this has been in the works for a couple of months. “We purchased a new fire truck in the fall so we decided to put the other truck up for sale,” Schmitt, a department member for 60 years said. “We won’t have any room once the new truck arrives so that’s what led to this decision.” A similar model 2019 truck is expected in the spring.

A fire district is governed by a board of five commissioners who are responsible for setting budgets and levying property taxes on homes and businesses in the district, based on their assessed values. Budgets are submitted to the town clerk’s office.

Schmitt said that the Sydney River department contacted Meadowmere about the truck.

“We put an ad online about our truck and the Sydney River department contacted us about this in the summer,” he said. “It’s cool that a Canadian fire department reached to us about this.”

Sydney River chief Dave Witzell said they found the advertisement for the truck from the company, Brindlee Mountain. “A tough thing that we deal with is finding a truck that fits in our garages,” Witzell said. “We’ve put the down payment on for the truck as the vote was originally supposed to happen in the fall.”

Witzell has been involved with the Sydney River department for 44 years and noted how his department visited Long Island in 1987. “About 33 years ago, members of our department visited the Oceanside Fire Department for a fire rescue competition,” he said. “Their department treated us like gold during our visit. This shows that the firefighting family extends across North America.” 

Schmitt added that Meadowmere Park is always looking to assist other volunteer departments whenever they can. “It’s always a pleasure dealing with other fire departments in regards to this,” he said. “We’re happy to lend a helping in any way that we can.” 

If the vote passes, Witzell said his deputy commissioner will pick up the truck. “I’ll probably be in Florida at that time,” he said jokingly. “I’d like to thank the Meadowmere Park Fire Department for their contribution to us. They’ll be passing on a truck that will be used greatly in our community.” 

Voting will be on Tuesday, March 10 from 6 to 9 p.m. at 14 Meyer Ave. in Meadowmere Park. For additional voting information, call (516) 239-3088.