Fire truck heads for Mexico

EAST GLENDALE — For the six firefighters from Rosarito Beach, Mexico, who made the trip up to Glendale this week, the benefits of family came in the form of a 75-foot-long, bright green fire truck donated by the Glendale Fire Department on Thursday.

Fire and city officials were on hand midday at Fire Station No. 21 on Oak Street to dedicate a 1983 Seagrave Aerial Ladder truck to their Mexican counterparts in what ranks as the department’s largest gift to date, they said.

“This is a big help,” Rosarito Beach Mayor Antonio Mecias said. “It gives us the ability to save more lives.”

The typical lifespan of the truck is about 15 years, but routine maintenance has allowed firefighters to keep it in service for 23 years, Glendale Fire Capt. Tom Propst said.

Until recently, the truck was used as a backup while its newer replacement underwent servicing, Propst said.

The recent purchase of a new, $850,000 ladder truck erased the need for the aging Seagrave altogether, he said.

The city would have received very little for the truck on the public auction block, and so decided to donate it to their counterparts south of the border, he said.

It is the third fire truck donated to the Rosarito Beach Fire Department since the two cities became “sisters” more than 20 years ago, he said.

It is also a big boost for a Fire Department that is seeing taller buildings spring up amid rapid development, Mecias said.

His department oversees a city of 140,000 people with three stations staffed by 45 firefighters, he said.

“A lot of higher buildings are growing, so it’s going to reinforce our rescues that require anything more than three stories,” he said.

The Seagrave ladder truck can reach up to seven stories high, Propst said.

It also strengthens bonds between cultures, regardless of what may seem like a one-way economic benefit to some of Glendale’s “younger” sisters, said Zizette Ayad, a senior administrative analyst for the city who heads the Sister Cities Department.

“It’s part of what government does — bigger government helps smaller government,” she said.

Indeed, Glendale’s gift also included a myriad of firefighting equipment and clothing, including hoses, tools and boots, Propst said.

A group of firefighters also volunteers to go down to Rosarito Beach for a few days each year to give their counterparts tactical training in various firefighting techniques, he said.

Glendale also plays sister to Tlaquepaque, Mexico; Kapan, Armenia; and Hiroshima and Higashiosaka, Japan, according to Sister Cities International, a nonprofit organization that connects municipalities around the world.