By Chris Camire
Lowell Sun (Massachusetts)
Copyright 2007 MediaNews Group, Inc.
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PELHAM, Mass. — A 1985 firetruck decommissioned by the Pelham Fire Department last year has found a new home in Mexico.

A family of volunteer firefighters from Monterrey, Mexico, bought the truck for $4,201 after the Fire Department put it up for sale on eBay.

"When we sell a truck we don't anticipate a fire department from Mexico buying it," said Lt. Ray Cashman. "Usually, someone just wants it for the parts."

But winning bidders Sylvia and Antonio Ruiz plan to use the vehicle to fight fires in their city of 1.1 million that sits in the shadows of the Sierra Madre Oriental mountains.

Last week, the couple's son, also named Antonio Ruiz, flew to New Hampshire to sign the papers to make the sale official. He spent the day hanging out at the Pelham Fire Station.

Cashman said Ruiz and the crew hit it off, and the whole Ruiz clan plans to attend the Pelham Firefighters Ball in January.

Ruiz's father also had plans to fly out to Pelham, so he and his son could drive the truck back to Mexico together. But a big brush fire that broke out in Mexico while Ruiz was in Pelham forced him to cut his trip short, according to Cashman.

The family opted to hire a trucking company to ship the vehicle down to Mexico for a price Cashman said was rumored to be $8,500.

Cashman said the winning bid was more than $1,000 higher than the next best offer. The money from the sale will be deposited into the town's general fund.

The Fire Department is scheduled to buy a new pumper truck by year's end. Residents approved leasing a truck, at $345,000 for five years, during March's town election. The department is using an engine loaned by Alexis Manufacturing, an Illinois-based manufacturer of fire engines, which contracted to build the new engine.