If you were awake in the early morning hours of November 17, you might have seen this sight: a fire engine loaded on a tractor trailer, heading out of Marin County on its way to Long Beach. From there, Fire Engine 7 will be loaded onto a ship heading for Chile.
A vision two years in the making
On October 8, the SMFD formally presented Fire Engine 7 to Rodrigo J. Villegas, representing Viña del Mar’s Bomberos Station 5, where the Engine will serve as a front-line engine. The ceremony marked the culmination of a two-year collaboration between our Viña del Mar operations council and SMFD.
The ceremony included Chilean Ambassador to the U.S. Juan Gabriel Valdés, and Chilean Consul General Patricio Cabezas. Also in attendance were Sausalito Mayor Joan Cox, Sausalito Police Chief Stacie Gregory, Marin County Supervisor Stephanie Moulton-Peters’ Aide Doreen Gounard, Southern Marin Fire Board Director Tom Perazzo, Sister Cities Coordinator Monica Finnegan, Sister City supporter Lizzie Jeremi, and members of the SMFD command staff, Deputy Chief of Operations Matthew Barnes, Battalion Chief Travis Fox, Captain Manny Avila, and numerous firefighters and staff.
The donation was formally approved in September but the initiative began in 2023. At that time, in response to the fires that had recently swept through Chile, members of SMFD, in partnership with the VDM Ops Council, met with members of the Chilean Bomberos (by zoom). The local fire fighters shared their Disaster Preparedness Plan and the promise to collaborate in the future.
Then, in September 2024 SMFD hosted three Chilean bomberos who came to Marin along with a delegation of eight women from AGEP, the group of women entrepreneurs that the VDM team have been mentoring since 2011. (See “Sausalito Renaissance: Navigating the Post Pandemic Challenges” in 2024) The bomberos stayed at the various stations in southern Marin for an eight-day cultural and professional exchange. That visit, filled with shared training, camaraderie, and mutual respect, sparked the vision to send a fully equipped fire engine to Chile.
Battalion Chief Travis Fox and Captain Manny Avila led the effort over the following year, coordinating logistics, refurbishment, and international partnership requirements to make the donation possible.
The Rosenbauer Fire Engine, which proudly served the citizens of Mill Valley from 2013 to 2024 as Engine 7, will continue its service life in Viña del Mar, a city whose geography and wildfire risks closely mirror those of Southern Marin.
Shared Mission, Shared Landscape
The coastal communities of Sausalito and Viña del Mar share strikingly similar climates, terrain, and challenges, from hillside/urban interfaces to earthquakes, recurring wildfires and coastal weather conditions. We are proud to have facilitated the partnership between the fire fighters in Viña del Mar and SMFD.
