PORT ANGELES — The city Fire Department is coming to residential streets with a mobile light show, firefighters and candy canes.
The 29th annual Operation Candy Cane food drive begins at 5:30 p.m. Saturday in west Port Angeles and will move eastward each night until every street in Port Angeles has been visited, organizers vowed.
The department’s restored 1956 Seagrave fire engine, lighted from bumper to bumper with holiday lights and decorations, will be escorted by several firefighters on foot as they wind through neighborhoods picking up donations of canned and boxed food and handing out candy canes to anyone who is on the street as they pass.
Benefit PA Food Bank
Donations will be given to the Port Angeles Food Bank.
In 2012, the Fire Department raised more than $2,400 in donations and collected more than 11,000 pounds of food during Operation Candy Cane.
As many as 12 firefighters staff the engine, taking turns riding and walking alongside the engine, said Fire Capt. Keith Bogues.
“One year, we had one firefighter who brought his GPS along. It tracked them 26 miles in one night,” Bogues said.
At six trips, one per night, firefighters travel more than 125 miles with the antique fire engine.
There are only a few firefighters who are allowed to drive the Seagrave, Bogues said.
“It’s not like driving a modern car,” he said.
The Seagrave truck has a non-synchronous transmission, which requires double-clutching.
Even for those who have driven it before, that includes a lot of grinding, he said.
Schedule
Operation Candy Cane will begin at 5:30 each night and continue until the truck has reached the end of its route.
■ Saturday — South McDonald Street to I Street north of 10th Street, then to M Street south of 10th Street.
■ Sunday — I Street north of 10th Street, then M Street south of 10th Street to C Street.
■ Monday — C Street to Lincoln Street, north of Lauridsen Boulevard.
■ Tuesday — Chase Street to Chambers Street, north of Lauridsen Boulevard.
■ Wednesday — Jones Street and Hurricane Ridge Road to South Golf Course Road
■ Thursday — South of Lauridsen, from South Cherry Street to Mount Angeles Road.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
