Emergency vehicle to be donated overseas
By Caitlyn Kelleher JOURNAL REPORTER

The ambulance that is going to Afghanistan was donated by the Fire District 14's Firefighters Association to the Ashburnham association. JOURNAL PHOTO/CAITLYN KELLEHER

Members of the Ashburnham Fire Department are devoting some of their free time to help people halfway around the world.

They are preparing an ambulance donated by the Massachusetts Fire District 14 to send to Afghanistan after a request by Town Administrator Kevin Paicos, a medic with the United States Army's National Guard's special forces unit, took root in Fire Chief Paul Zbikowski's to-do list.

"This is what we do. We help," said Zbikowski.

The ambulance will be going to Farah, a western area of Afghanistan, where Taliban raids have left little or no emergency medical services, according to Zbikowski.

The donated ambulance is a 1988 model with about 31,000 miles on it. Zbikowski said the truck was in great shape and all the local fire association members had to do was patch a small area of rust, remove all of the lettering from the exterior of the vehicle, and clean and polish it. Members of the Ashburnham Firefighters' Association have also checked the brakes, the shocks and the struts of the truck.

Zbikowski hopes to be able to send some extra sets of parts for those areas of the vehicle with it when it is shipped overseas.

Also going with the vehicle are supplies donated from other area fire departments. Those departments have sent backboards and defibrillators, as well as standard bandages and medical supplies.

The fire departments include Leister, Oakham, Action Ambulance, Boston EMS and Hopkinton.

"People are very generous when it comes to stuff like this," Zbikowski said.

He had put the initial call out during the fall for an ambulance through the Fire Chiefs Association of Massachusetts, the Mid-State Mutual Aid Association and the Worcester County Chiefs organization.

After a failed attempt at procuring an ambulance from a private company, Fire District 14 stepped to the plate and donated their used ambulance.

Fire District 14 is comprised of 23 communities, including Acton, Ashland, Boxborough, Carlisle, Concord, Framingham, Holliston, Hopedale, Hopkinton, Hudson, Lincoln, Marlborough, Maynard, Milford, Natick, Northborough, Sherborn, Shrewsbury, Southborough, Stow, Sudbury, Wayland, Westborough, and the Hanscom Air Base Fire Department.

Southborough Fire Chief John Mauro, chairman of Fire District 14, said his association's members thought this was a good way to be able to help and to contribute. The departments were looking to purchase a new ambulance and that the donation was a good way to help at the same time.

The ambulance has been used as a spare in the district, helping when the town's ambulances are busy or out of service for repairs.