City of Harrisburg Donates Firetruck to SIC

Southeastern Illinois College is now the proud owner of a 1970 American LaFrance firetruck donated by the City of Harrisburg. Harrisburg Mayor Dale Fowler and Harrisburg Fire Chief John Gunning presented the truck with title to SIC President Dr. Jonah Rice.

“The council and I are thrilled to support SIC with this piece of equipment,” said Fowler. “Someone should be able to use this firetruck, and knowing that SIC students will be able to benefit from this donation for years to come made this a perfect fit.”

After the city received no bids on the firetruck, the council unanimously voted to donate the truck to SIC.

“SIC is thankful to the City of Harrisburg for this donation,” said Rice. “The pumper truck will be used by a variety of programs and safety training opportunities. The more training and safety competitions we bring to the College, the greater the benefit to the City and region. It’s always better to work together and this is a great example of how that works. This donation will accent what we do on a variety of levels. It’s a wonderful gift.”

One program benefitting from this truck will be the Fire Science program. In 2003, SIC established a Fire Science Training Center on its campus. This offers ongoing education to firefighters across the region.

“It is important for the City to have a relationship with SIC,” said Gunning. “This is a partnership that will be ongoing, and this is a ‘thank you’ for the training done at Southeastern.”

Along with the Fire Science program, this firetruck will be used for a plethora of events and programs at SIC including the annual regional Mine Rescue Competition, Coal Mine Rescue Safety and Fire Brigade training, Welding Technology and Diesel Technology.

“There are many different areas of study for Diesel Technology students on this one piece of equipment,” said Ralph Boots, Diesel Technology Instructor at SIC. “This will be a perfect training tool from its diesel engine, to the transmission and the controls. We are very grateful to the City for the opportunity to learn and teach using this truck.”

For further information on SIC’s technical programs listed, contact Jim Butler at 618-252-5400 ext. 2325 or jim.butler@sic.edu.

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