October 8, 2025, Sausalito, CA — In a gesture of international friendship and firefighter brotherhood, the Southern Marin Fire District (SMFD) formally presented the Key to Fire Engine 7 to representatives from Viña del Mar, Chile, marking the culmination of a two-year collaboration between SMFD and the Sausalito Sister Cities Viña del Mar Committee.

The ceremony, held at Southern Marin Fire Station 1 in Sausalito, brought together distinguished guests including Ambassador Juan Gabriel Valdés, Consul General Patricio Cabezas, and Rodrigo J. Villegas, representing Viña del Mar’s Bomberos Station 5, where the donated apparatus will soon serve as a front-line engine.

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, 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.

A Vision Two Years in the Making

The donation was formally approved at the September 2025 Fire District Board Meeting, but the initiative began in 2024 when SMFD, in partnership with Sausalito Sister Cities, hosted five Viña del Mar firefighters 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 partnership between the City of Sausalito and Viña del Mar has flourished since 2020 under the Sister Cities International framework. Both coastal communities share strikingly similar climates, terrain, and challenges, from hillside urban interfaces to recurring wildland fires and coastal weather conditions.

Following the ceremony, Chilean dignitaries joined SMFD personnel for a fire engine ride to Viña del Mar Park in Sausalito, a symbolic gesture of unity celebrating the two cities’ ongoing friendship and shared commitment to public service.

About the Sister City Program

This donation stands as a remarkable outcome of the 2024 Viña del Mar delegation exchange, during which firefighters from both cities shared best practices and deepened bonds rooted in the universal firefighter ethos, the protection of life and property through courage, service, and solidarity.

The Sausalito Viña del Mar Sister City partnership exemplifies the enduring power of people-to-people diplomacy, a cornerstone of President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Sister Cities initiative. Through mutual learning and cultural exchange, both communities continue to strengthen global ties and advance their shared mission of excellence in fire and life safety.