Canadian Volunteers Get An International Bargain
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Photo by Walt McCall
When a unique opportunity occurred to acquire a rescue truck, virtually the entire 22-man membership of the Sandwich South Township, Ontario, Volunteer Fire Department voted to give up a year’s pay so they could buy the custom-built vehicle for their community.
Adding international dimensions to the project was the fact that the rescue squad unit had to be purchased at an auction sale in the United States and then imported into Canada.
With the endorsement of the township council, the Sandwich South Township fire fighters decided to forego their department salaries for one year. They successfully bid on the almost-new rescue unit at a city auction in neighboring Detroit, Mich. The apparatus was imported into Canada under a special customs permit.
Victims of budget squeeze
The rescue truck was one of five special four-wheel-drive “tactical mobile squads” delivered to the Detroit Fire Department in 1973. Designed as quick-attack units and equipped with oversized tires so they could climb expressway embankments, the TMS units never went into service due to budget and manpower reductions. All were put on the auction block in September 1977.
“We heard about the upcoming auction and several of us went over to the Detroit Fire Department motor shops to look at one of the vehicles,” Sandwich South Township Fire Chief Frank Norstadt said.
“We had been thinking about obtaining a rescue truck, and it was exactly what we wanted.” Norstadt added,
“We got it for $14,000—a fraction of what it had cost. Ours had only 140 miles on the speedometer, and we got immediate delivery.”
Truck repainted
Once they got their prized truck home, the Sandwich South volunteers spent more than 200 man-hours modifying the unit for its transition from urban to generally rural rescue service. Every inch of the body was sanded down and the apparatus was repainted from Detroit’s trendy lime green and white to the more traditional fire department red.
A local service club donated $2000, which the volunteers used to buy extra rescue gear for the truck. Resplendent in its new coat of bright red paint highlighted by gold-leaf striping and trim, Tactical Mobile Squad 110 was officially placed in service this spring. TMS 110 complements the township’s two pumpers and tankers.
The apparatus has a canopy-type cab, mounts an 9-ton winch up front and carries 300 gallons of water and booster equipment. Other gear carried on the versatile rescue units includes a fiberglass Stokes basket, 35-piece hydraulic rescue kit, gasoline power saw, set of pneumatic chisels, two emergency stretchers, blankets, first-aid and burn kits, 3000-watt generator, floodlights, and extension ladder.
