Chance meeting at WWE event inspires Sandy-ravaged fire department to 'pay forward' donation

Images of the devastation that Hurricane Sandy caused in this tiny waterfront borough have been seen around the world.

Pictures of buildings torn in half or missing entirely, and people trying to salvage homes that were still standing but had been submerged in several feet of water are now ingrained in our minds.

And as this destruction was happening, members of the Union Beach Fire Department were out riding boats through the flooded streets to rescue people from their roofs and risking their own lives, swimming into flooded homes to pull people to safety.

And as news spread that this volunteer department – which made about 80 water rescues during the storm – suffered extensive damage in three of its four firehouses, donations started coming in from all over the country.

“The generosity has been amazing,” Union Beach Fire Chief Robert LaBerta said. “We’ve had a lot of people contacting us and sending donations to the fire department to help us get back on our feet. It’s awesome to see this form of kindness first hand.”

The donations ranged from monetary donations, to building materials and entire vehicles. In fact, while the fire department did need to replace some vehicles, it received more donated vehicles than it actually needed.

But when members of the Union Beach Fire Department found out from members of the Moonachie Fire Department – at a recent WWE Monday Night Raw event in Newark, which many emergency responders from hurricane-ravaged area communities were honorary guests to – that their department lost multiple vehicles in the storm and was relying on borrowed fire trucks just to stay in operation, Chief LaBerta said they decided to help.


LaBerta redirected the donation of a 1984 Pierce pumper that was given to his department by the Rutland-Dundee Fire Department in Gilberts, Ill. to the Moonachie Fire Department in Bergen County.

“The pumper is in great shape. The Rutland-Dundee department actually had it as one of its reserve trucks and was planning to put it up for public sale before they decided to donate it to help us out,” LaBerta said. “And this equipment is definitely not cheap, so the fact that they are giving it away speaks volumes of their generosity. But there are folks that need that generosity a little more than we do right now.”

Representatives from the Rutland-Dundee department, who are driving the fire truck from Pennsylvania where it was delivered by train, are scheduled to arrive in Moonachie with the fire truck later today.

LaBerta said he had never met anyone from either the Moonachie or Rutland-Dundee prior to the WWE event, but that he felt compelled to play the intermediary between the two parties.

“I believe that the fire service is one big family. And if I can help somebody in my family, I’ll be more than happy to,” he said. “This would not have been possible without the charity of the Rutland-Dundee Fire Department. And if I could pay this truck forward to help another department get a little sense of normalcy back to their life, then it’s helping all of us.”

source: nj.com