Buyers from across North America
Everything must go: A dozen fire trucks auctioned off at Asphodel Fire Trucks
NORWOOD — A dozen fire trucks were auctioned off online on Tuesday, as well as all the tools, trucks and even the property and buildings of a shop in Norwood that used to supply tankers and rescue vehicles to municipalities across Canada.
The London, Ont. auction house Storey’s sold all the contents of Asphodel Fire Trucks Ltd., in addition to the property and the buildings.
Auctioneer Racheal Storey said everything sold. Trucks were sold to people from across Canada and the United States, she said.
“We can’t say who (the clients are) or where (the trucks are going), unfortunately,” she said in a phone interview on Wednesday.
Asphodel Firetrucks closed by seizure in November 2017. It had been in business more than 20 years, building and selling trucks to municipalities across Canada.
One truck in particular wasn’t expected to be included in the sale: A small town in Newfoundland and Labrador had paid in full and yet never received its truck.
The Town of Cape St. George — population 893 — has been trying to get its truck through legal channels since early summer.
Court documents show the town paid $268,544.50 for a pumper to be constructed by Asphodel Firetrucks, but the truck wasn’t delivered.
Local lawyer Michael Gunsolus is representing the Town of Cape St. George as it tries to retrieve the truck (which was still under construction when the firm closed).
He wasn’t available for comment Wednesday.
Although Gunsolus confirmed earlier this month that the truck won’t be auctioned off, it wasn’t clear whether it will go to Cape St. George or to the chassis supplier.
But that was just one of five trucks destined for Newfoundland towns that were never delivered, a provincial government official told the Examiner earlier this year.
Meanwhile the Town of Erin in Ontario paid a deposit of $118,650 on a truck, The Erin Advocate reported recently, and a lawyer was trying to get the deposit back in the summer.
The Examiner has also learned that the east central town of Veteran, Alta. (pop. 250) put a deposit of about $80,000 on a truck it never received.
It was unclear on Wednesday whether any of those towns had received their trucks or a refund — no new information has been available this month from officials in Newfoundland, Alberta or Erin.