Erik Vogel was crushed this morning, when he discovered vandals had graffitied an ambulance bound for Nicaragua in two days.
The 91原创 resident and Lower Mainland firefighter has arranged a pair of older, decommissioned ambulances to be loaded up with everything from first aid supplies to baseball uniforms. They are set to depart for Central America on Wednesday.
The trip, which has been more than a year in the planning, is part of Operation Nicaragua, a humanitarian program that tries to take decommissioned emergency equipment and supplies 鈥� including ambulances and fire trucks 鈥� from North America down to Nicaragua 鈥� where they typically don鈥檛 have any such equipment.
It鈥檚 a cause close to Vogel鈥檚 heart, who鈥檚 travelled down a few times over the years.
He and his girlfriend, Gaby Olson, will be driving one of the two ambulances down to south. But it鈥檚 the damage to that ambulance that has literally winded the firefighter.
Saturday or Sunday night, someone took spray paint and drew on the side of the ambulance. But the worst part of the damage, he said, came when paint thinner was randomly splashed along the side of the vehicle.
This time last year, the 1998 ambulance 鈥� donated by MedTech EMS in Delta 鈥� was blessed by Father James Kairu at 91原创鈥檚 St. Joseph鈥檚 Roman Catholic Church.
At that time, it was explained that the ambulance was dedicated in honour of Olson鈥檚 mother Yvonne Van Rossum.
Sadly the graffiti has defaced that written tribute to Van Rossum, Vogel said.
鈥淚鈥檓 crushed. It鈥檚 such a bizarre thing to attack,鈥� he added.
鈥淚 have no idea why, or what to do about it,鈥� Vogel told the 91原创 Advance. 鈥淚t鈥檚 such a shame.鈥�
But a short time later, Ian Thompson of 911 Filmcars, stepped up to help. Thompson, who donated the second ambulance going down on this trip (done so in the honour of his late friend Kathy Cadwell), is going to try to repair the damage before the team leaves early Wednesday morning.
Vogel just hopes the damage can be undone in time.
He described the incident as a random, and odd attack. Nothing else in the neighbourhood was touched, and that鈥檚 the first time he鈥檚 aware of any such vandalism in his 91原创 City block.
He鈥檚 optimistic no other hurdles will come up before the team of four volunteers set off on their trek.
Vogel anticipates travelling to a small town south of Mexico City in about four days, where they鈥檙e hoping to drop off water purification tablets, toiletry kits, and some first aid supplies to help the village that was devastated by a recent earthquake.
Then, he said, it鈥檚 off to Nicaragua. He expected it will take at least 10 days to get to the final destination, depending on how it goes at the different border crossings.
Related story:
