Retired 25-Year-Old Norwood Fire Ladder Truck Sold for $500-September 10, 1992

A quarter-century-old Norwood Fire Department ladder truck retired earlier this year is heading north to find a second life in the wilderness of Maine.

Sale to Greenville, Maine, Approved by Selectmen

The Board of Selectmen voted unanimously to sell the surplus vehicle for the “best offer” of $500 to the town of Greenville, Maine, a rural community situated on Moosehead Lake in the west-central region of the state.

“We have got the best offer we are going to get,” Fire Chief Thomas J. Barry Jr. advised the selectmen. “It will probably become one of the attractions this winter at Moosehead Lake. It will probably be the pride of that part of Maine.”

In a correspondence to Chief Barry, Greenville Town Manager David E. Cota explained that the truck will serve as a vital asset for the town of 2,000 residents and its 25-member volunteer fire department, which covers an expansive geographical territory encompassing two neighboring small towns and three unorganized districts. Cota noted that the tight municipal budget limited their purchasing power.

Chief Barry urged selectmen to accept the bid, pointing out that advertising the vehicle generated virtually no other interest and that Norwood might eventually have incurred disposal costs if the truck had been allowed to deteriorate locally. Word of the surplus vehicle reached Maine serendipitously after a Norwood police officer mentioned it to a local resident while vacationing in the area.

Additional Selectmen Actions: AIDS Walk and Rotary Club Award

In other municipal business during the meeting, selectmen:

• Approved a permit for the Norwood Clergy Association to host a three-hour charity walk on October 25 to benefit AIDS victims. Organizers anticipate 100 to 150 participants for the event, which will begin and end at the United Church on Washington Street in Norwood Center.
• Learned that the local Norwood Rotary Club has been named a recipient of the 1992 Massachusetts “Drug Fighter of the Year Award.” The honor will be presented by the Governor’s Alliance Against Drugs and the Drug Enforcement Administration during an October 30 luncheon at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston, an event where U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Antonia Novello will also be recognized for her anti-drug advocacy.

(photo: Ladder 1- 1967 Maxim 85′ TDA (#2600), Jim Flaherty, firenews.org)

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger