Copyright 2006 The News and Observer
The News & Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina)
RALEIGH, N.C. — For years, Bob Ohmann of North Raleigh has been buying old firetrucks from the firefighters in his hometown in upstate New York.
On Thursday, he sent one of the younger trucks in his collection, a 1965 American LaFrance pumper, to the fire department in Waveland, Miss.
Ohmann said he was inspired by an article in last week’s News & Observer that detailed the Apex Fire Department’s efforts to donate a fire truck to the Waveland Fire Department after the Mississippi town’s fleet of emergency vehicles was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.
“I wouldn’t have done this if it hadn’t been for the [Mississippi story],” said Ohmann, the owner of St. Lawrence Homes.
Ohmann said he bought the truck from the Lyons, N.Y, Fire Department for about $2,500 in the mid-1990s and installed a new engine in it in 2004.
A flatbed truck hired by Ohmann hauled it away Thursday. With any luck, he said, it should arrive in Waveland this afternoon.