(SOUTHERN COLORADO) — Fire crews in the Pikes Peak region received a significant boost on Saturday, November 9, thanks to a generous donation of a fire engine from local philanthropist Mary Barrowman.
Barrowman, whose foundation has previously supported underfunded volunteer fire departments, donated a brand-new fire engine to the Southern Colorado (SOCO) Interagency Wildland Fire Team.
“To Mary Barrowman and her family and her hospice foundation, you have changed our lives forever, and we now have a chance for long-term sustainability because of your generous gift,” said Shane Coyne, Superintendent, SOCO Interagency Wildland Fire Team. “On behalf of the SOCO team and all of the firefighters, and the community that this engine is going to support in Teller and El Paso Counties, Mary, we appreciate you, we love you, and we are grateful you’ll be a lifelong partner with us.”
The new fire engine is a 2024 Dodge Ram 5500, built by Outback Fire in Utah, and is designed to carry 300 gallons of water, making it ideal for rugged terrain.
This Type 6 wildland fire engine will be based in El Paso County and will serve both El Paso and Teller Counties, enhancing wildfire response capabilities and improving safety across the region.
To celebrate the donation, a traditional push-in ceremony was held, a custom that dates back to the days when firefighters manually pushed horse-drawn engines into the station.
All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by FOX21. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat from a broadcast script into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by FOX21 staff before being published.
