Former Brookfield Fire Engine Finds New Life in Texas

When fire departments get rid of a vehicle, most of the time it's sold off at auction to another fire company in a different part of the country.

To be exact, we checked with quora.com to get the official word on where most of these decommissioned trucks wind up, here's the most popular answer.

The best of the best are kept for reserve engines in case of break downs. The others are stripped of identifying logos and emptied of tools and supplies and sent to auction or sold to other smaller departments to be put back into service for them. Some federal agencies that use fire engines (US Forest Service, BLM, NPS) sometimes will transfer thier old rolling stock to the disaster assistance program and they end up being shipped to places like Guam, Samoa, Saipan.

For Brookfield's old Engine 11, which used to be Engine 1, that's exactly what happened. The engine wound up in a new home in Texas, and is now being used for charity work and used in Fire Department drive-bys and parades.

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Just recently, the Brookfield Fire Department posted a video on their Facebook page with the old engine now making kids smile. You'll notice the Brookfield Fire Department lettering is still displayed on the engine. Look for the vehicle at around 1:50 into the video, and notice when the fireman opens the door you'll get a quick glimpse of the lettering on the door, it still says Brookfield.

Some who have already seen the video on Brookfield Fire Department's Facebook page were overcome with emotion:

"This was unbelievable, you had me shedding many tears of joy. Thank you for sharing and for all the vehicles that were involved".

"I miss driving that truck".

"Good old truck there".