Wood River Fire Department seeking vehicle donations for training

WOOD RIVER - Wood River Fire Chief Brendan McKee said his department is asking citizens of Wood River - and slightly beyond - for donations of unwanted old vehicles. 

Those vehicles can be donated to the Wood River Fire Department by calling (618) 259-0984. McKee said anyone donating a vehicle will receive a tax-deductible donation letter from the City of Wood River based on the vehicle's Blue Book value. The vehicles are being retrieved at no cost, courtesy of Trickey's Towing in Wood River.

Currently, McKee said the department has around eight vehicles, which they will be using for a state-certified vehicle extraction exercise. McKee said he needs around 15 for a complete training session. 

"We're looking for any vehicles we can get," he said. "Cars, trucks, vans, whatever is out there. We can use them to simulate real world car accidents for training." 

All someone requires to donate a vehicle is its title. McKee said the vehicle must come with a title from whoever is donating it. 

After the vehicles have been used for training purposes, McKee said the remains will be given back to Trickey's Towing who will be able to sell it for scrap. 

"It's a win-win for everybody," McKee said.

"People get to take money off their taxes, they get an unwanted vehicle taken care of for free, we get to do training, which will benefit the people of Wood River and Trickey's gets to make something from the scrap, depending on the going price of steel." 

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