Lake Oswego Fire Department donates fire engine to Ukraine [Video]

LAKE OSWEGO, Ore. — The Lake Oswego Fire Department is getting ready to retire its 1994 fire truck this month, and it will be donating the truck to a Midwestern nonprofit that sends fire engines and ambulances to Ukraine.

The idea came from JT Anoushiravani, a Lake Oswego Fire Department battalion chief, after he saw a story about the nonprofit Ukrainian Resistance Foundation’s work on NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt. 

“This kind of was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us to do something for our fellow firefighters in Ukraine,” said Anoushiravani. “I got the process started in February and now we’re here. And hopefully, in the next week or two, this is headed to the East Coast and being shipped to Germany, through Poland and get to Ukraine.”

But they couldn’t do this without a proper send-off. The fire department parked the engine at the Millennium Plaza Park roundtable during the annual Star-Spangled Parade. They asked people to write their names or thoughtful …