Colesville dedicates new truck

WANTAGE -- Colesville Company 2 volunteer firefighters and Wantage Township first aid squad members celebrated the arrival of two gleaming new vehicles at a ceremony on Saturday that included a solemn blessing and an exuberant wetdown. The new $300,000 KME 2,500 gallon pumper-tanker truck is dedicated to the memory of Donald Brink, who lost his life in 1979 when fire truck number 623 went out of control and crashed on the way to a fire. The accident destroyed the truck, and the fire company retired its number. Later, the department dedicated truck number 625 to Brink To carry on the tradition, Brink's widow Harriet assisted former fire chief Martin Little as he affixed the old plaque commemorating Brink to the new truck, number 626. Harriet is now married to Little, who knew Brink well, and served with him. Inscribed on the plaque are these words: "In Memory of Donald Brink, for dedication and service above and beyond the call of duty." "I feel very proud and glad the fire company still remembers Donald," said Harriet Little. "Today we rededicate this plaque in honor of his memory, one of those valiant men who have gone before us," said Deputy Chief Steve Raye, wetdown chairman. In honor of Brink, the bell on the 1929 fire truck, Colesville's first, was tolled thrice, and the color guard dipped the fire department colors while the piper played "Amazing Grace." Fire department chaplain Fr. John Quinlan blessed the new fire truck and ambulance after reading the parable of the sheep and the goats from Matthew 25: 31-46. Fr. Quinlan is pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Swartswood. Mayor Parker Space and Captain Stan Gardner of the Wantage Township first aid squad also were present, as were a crowd of family, friends and other well-wishers. "I'm happy that we can have the kind of good equipment that will get the job done to protect our citizens," said Space. Raye summarized the day's mixture of joy and nostalgia, saying in part, "It is the ever-changing members that make a fire department. Members that put in hours, days, weeks, months and years of their life to keep that one promise to the community that comes from our by-laws: to protect and preserve lives and property from loss or destruction by fire or other disasters. At the conclusion the ceremony the color guard marched to the rear of the firehouse, with the piper playing, "Scotland the Brave." Then the wetdown party began.