An old Manx engine donated to help firefighters in Ukraine

An old Isle of Man fire engine is being donated to a fire station in a war-torn city in Ukraine.

Manx Support for Ukraine (MSfU) will transport the vehicle, which is heading to Mykolaiv in the south of the country, later this month.

An anonymous donor provided the funds for the charity to buy the emergency vehicle from local events company ELS, which had acquired it at auction.

Charity trustee James Quinn, who will drive it to Ukraine, said “every corner” of the engine would be filled with medical equipment and supplies that could help Ukrainian volunteer firefighters.

Currently, the Mykolaiv fire station has only one fire engine, which dates back to 1964 and has no water source on board.

The given Volvo engine, which was manufactured in 1999, is equipped with water tanks and pumping facilities.

MSfU is also supporting the effort to rebuild the damaged fire station and provide engine shelter during the harsh Ukrainian winter.

In addition to trying to find containment on the fires, Quinn said they would send “some generators and heaters, anything that we think will be useful to them.”

Quinn, who is a British Army veteran, said the situation had “recently worsened” in terms of strikes in the city of 478,000.

“The Russians are hitting the power plants, which will make it difficult for the people of Mykolaiv this winter, and it will be a very bad winter,” he added.

MSfU has previously supplied 54 pick-up trucks to Ukraine, in addition to sending an articulated truck full of medical supplies from local facilities.

He has a group of 14 drivers on the island with truck licenses who can take vehicles to the Polish border or into Ukraine itself, including Quinn, who has been to Ukraine eight times in the past to make deliveries.