APPARATUSDONATION
By Omar Aguilar
On April 23 in a ceremony at the Sierra Lakes Golf Club in Fontana, two yellow 1991 Spartan fire
engines were delivered to a group of firefighters from San Felipe, Mexico. Here’s how they got there.
Currently assigned to Station 226 in San Bernardino, Captain Jay Dimoff once resided in San
Felipe, commuting across the border during the early years of his fire service career. While
there, he became close with the local firefighters and recognized their overwhelming need for
new equipment. He went on to meet his current wife, Rita, and returned to the U.S. to start a
family and further his career. Still, he visited San Felipe often and kept seeing a deterioration in
their equipment, so he decided to get involved.
Those yellow engines were initially purchased by Crest Forest Fire in 1991, serving Crestline and
Twin Peaks as either front-line rigs or paid-call company apparatus for well over two decades.
When Crest Forest became part of the County Fire family in 2013, these engines were part of the
deal; however, due to their age they were potentially headed to a salvage yard.
Meanwhile, Jay reached out to County Fire Chief Mark Hartwig and began working on an
international donation project of emergency vehicles. Details included weighing the factors
that go into decommissioning fire apparatus: vehicle age, mileage and overall repair and
maintenance costs.
Working with Chief Mark Hartwig, Assistant Chief John Chamberlin, Fire Mechanic Tom
Pitts, Fleet Supervisor Dale Sandoval and both the Fontana and San Felipe Rotary Clubs, Jay
searched for a path in which to make the donation. After many months of phone calls, emails
and meetings he found a way. The engines were donated first from the San
Bernardino County Fire District to Fontana’s Rotary. Once the donation took
place, those Rotarians would donate the vehicles to their counterparts with
San Felipe Rotary.
This multi-level transaction culminated in the donation you see pictured here.
Omar Aguilar is an engineer currently assigned to Station 164
in Upland. He is a past president of Local 935
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FIREWIRE • Spring 2018
Spring 2018 • FIREWIRE
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