After forging a friendship through social media during the 2017 wildfires, the wildfire angels returned to McLeese Lake gifting the Volunteer Fire Department with a fire truck this past weekend.
The 1988 diesel truck was purchased from the South Green Lake Volunteer Fire Department by Ford diesel truck enthusiast group, Western Canadian Powerstrokes.
Having to keep it under wraps for a month was President of the McLeese Lake Volunteer Fire Department, Ian Hicks.
“I had to tell everybody that it was a big surprise, and then oh what is it? and okay well it’s red and it’s big,” Hicks said.
“Next thing you know there’s a big gaggle of people at the hall, and we had this grand entrance with the lights and sirens flashing and then all the doors are open and kids are climbing all over it like the circus comes to town. It was a surprise, and lots of people didn’t know but a couple had to so we could facilitate all of this.”
Hicks calls the ‘newer’ than they’re used to truck a real beauty.
“The world is a small place and once you make these relationships they carry on,” he said.
“These people they went through the whole thing in Fort McMurray so that’s how it ended up becoming what it was; when things started to go south in the Cariboo they all saw it on the news and they just jumped to action and knew what it felt like it. Ever since then there’s been this bond like we’re bonded by fire, and stress, and brotherhood and it’s great.”
The truck as of Sunday was in Hicks’ shop as the Department that does not have a Fire Hall to call their own hopes to build one this summer.
“A very nice young man Jason Klapstein and his girlfriend from Edmonton, he’s now here and we’re just fooling around with the truck in my shop just getting it ready to put it away for winter so it’s going to wait for springtime for its first sort of action,” he said.
“He [Klapstein] kind of snuck around and stuck a couple of his Powerstrokes stickers on the thing which I thought was kind of neat-you know it’s a little touch of spice from the Alberta guys there.”
(Editor’s Note: Listen to Ian Hicks in the audio file below)