North River Fire Department won't pay interest on new truck thanks to Chase the Ace

The North River Fire Department ended up with so much money fromits Chase the Ace fundraiserthat it's not only buying the fire truck it needed it's saving money on the truck.

Lt. Dean Smith said the fire department and the Kingston Legion, who ran the lottery together, each earned about $747,000 each after expenses.

• Legion and fire department win big with chase the ace

The $5 lottery, which involves drawing a playing card weeklyin search of the ace of spades as the deck shrinks and the jackpot grows, began in September last yearand stretched all the way to July with only 10 cards left in the deck.Mike May, a commercial account manager for the Bank of Montreal, won the jackpot of $1,053,340.

• Charlottetown man takes home $1M Chase the Ace jackpot

"The chances of gettingas far as we did, they're not in our favour," Dean said.

Saving $140K in interest

Dean said they were already in the market for a new fire truck, as one that needs replacing was manufactured in 1987.They have started the request for proposals andplan to have the new truckordered by Dec. 31.

They had only hoped to raise money toward thetruck, which Deansaid will cost at least $500,000. Instead they'll buy the truck outright.

"On top of the $740,000 that we'vefundraised, we're also going to save about $140,000 in interest charges," he said, joking that they plan to pay the truck off with $5 bills.

They expect to have money left over thatwill go toward keeping the department debt-free.

Financial freedom for Legion

Smith also noted how much the money will help the Legion.

"It just gives them so much financial freedom that they are able to do the things that the Legion should be doing, looking after the veterans and promoting Remembrance Day and those types of programs," he said.

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