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 News from Around Banderas Bay | April 2007 
Bahia de Banderas Goes Firetruck Shopping
 Harold Sokolove - PVNN
| | Ladder truck | 
| | Mini pumper |
Puerto Vallarta - You need shoes; you go to a shoe store. You need hardware; you go to a hardware store. You need a fire truck; you go to... In this case, you go to San Luis Potosi to meet with Gaston Mares Lobo of Mark Vehiculos Y Equipos De Importacion.
That's what 4 members of the Bahia de Banderas Fire Department and one fire department volunteer/GDL Reporter did several weeks ago.
The 5 loaded themselves into a fire department pickup at the fire station, 2 in the cab and 3 under the retrofitted camper shell/sleeping quarters, on Sunday night for the 8-hour, all night drive to SLP. They had been advised that Lobo had located a used 110-foot aerial ladder truck for the department to add to their truck fleet.
The department has been improving their equipment and training for almost a year now, under the direction of Proteccion Civil Director, Dr. Claudio Estrada and Chief of Bomberos, Francisco Nava.
The next item on their wish list was a ladder truck to respond to emergencies in high-rise structures, such as hotels and condos, primarily in Nuevo Vallarta, the popular tourist destination just north of Puerto Vallarta.
Fire department personnel had become aware of Lobo several months ago while attending a "fire school" in SLP and had made him aware of their search. He first located a used 1980 ladder truck, but later found a good deal on another used vehicle, a 1988 truck, with the barely legible name of the former fire department on the cab, "Arlington Fire Department."
A new truck of this type could easily cost three quarters of a million dollars; the local fire department will be paying far less money for this one.
The group arrived in SLP at 6 the next morning and met Lobo for a quick breakfast. Then on to Lobo's facility, a gravel-and-grass yard with a sales office and a long carport-type canopy housing several Cruz Roja ambulances being readied for delivery.
In the center of the yard stood the proposed purchase, the red and white behemoth ladder truck. After the initial oohs and ahhs of the firefighters, they got down to business making their inspection.
The bodywork, the lights and siren, the engine; everything looked and sounded in good condition for a 20-year-old vehicle. The ladder was extended to its full length, seemingly a mile into the sky.
It was time for a test drive to the SLP Fire Department central fire station, where the SLP Fire Chief (a veteran firefighter who was the teacher at the recent fire school) could look it over and give his opinion on the possible transaction.
It also presented the opportunity to use the brand new SLP pumper to supply water to the spray nozzle at the tip of the ladder. One firefighter climbed to end of the ladder as it rested on the truck cab and adjusted the flow and direction of the heavy stream of water from the nozzle. It was impressive, soaking the nearby surroundings!
After making the return trip to the sales yard, Nava sat down with Lobo to work out the details of the purchase, including the "tweaks" to the vehicle that Lobo would make. It would take about a week and a half, he said.
Two of the firefighters left for their return trip home from SLP on Monday afternoon, while two others and the reporter started making the arrangements to take a bus to Salamanca to pick up the department's "quick-attack vehicle" or mini-pumper, which has been undergoing repairs and upgrading for several months at Quiroga Fire Trucks and Equipment and was to be coincidentally ready for pickup on the same SLP trip.
The 5 hour bus trip meant arrival at the Quiroga factory on Tuesday afternoon. Long story short, the truck wasn't quite ready yet. Three more days of equipment updates, reflective striping, lettering, lighting and some major pump repair were in the cards.
Finally, the remodeled truck was ready to be driven away, back to Bahia de Banderas on Thursday at 8 pm. The three of us arrived back at 4 o'clock the next morning. |
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