Tyler Donates Fire Truck to Guatemala Village

TYLER (AP) � The Tyler Fire Department has sent a 17-year-old fire truck to a village in Guatemala. The Tyler Morning Telegraph reports that Tyler officials arranged through the nonprofit group Ignited to donate the truck to the municipality of San Jose Pinula. The truck was being used as a backup in Tyler because it has a leaky water tank and a bent frame. But when Hope Ignited’s executive director went on a medical outreach trip to Guatemala, he saw a new fire station without a fire truck because local officials couldn’t afford one. Tyler was eventually identified as having a truck available. City officials from San Jose Pinula flew to the United States to pick up the truck from Tyler, then drive it about 1,500 miles back to Guatemala.