Mich. Fire Truck Getting New Life In Kosovo Town

MASON (AP) - A decommissioned fire truck from a mid-Michigan community is heading to Kosovo where it's expected to help crews in the southeastern town of Vitina respond to blazes.

The 1984 truck was picked up Monday, Mason Mayor Leon Clark told the Lansing State Journal. It's expected to be flown by cargo plane from Selfridge Air National Guard Base in southeast Michigan to Germany and then will be taken to Kosovo. Plans call for it to arrive in Vitina in September.

The idea came about after Mason resident Petrit Jahiri's father, a former mayor of the Kosovo town, came to visit Mason and was impressed by equipment at the Mason Fire Department. It took about two years of work to line up the donation and make plans to move the truck.

Jahiri said the equipment will "be of great use" to Vitina.

"It's been an honor of mine to be involved in a project like this," he said. "It shows the nature of the people here who are generous and willing to do the right thing when it is needed."

Other donations from area fire departments and the Ingham County sheriff's department are being sent with the truck.

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