After months of parts delays, a city fire engine damaged in a traffic collision should be back to work next week — just in time for the city to receive a brand new engine, OleanTimesHerald.com reported.
FleetPride in Portville body shop performed more than $58,000 in front end repairs to Engine 40, which was damaged in a January 24 collision in the West End, and the vehicle has been returned to the fire department for final checks and servicing before heading out to calls again next week, the report said.
Engine 40 was westbound on West State Street at about 2 p.m. January 24 to respond to a medical call. On the way to the call with lights and sirens activated, the truck approached the 20th Street intersection. A passenger vehicle turned right off of North 20th into the path of the fire engine, causing the engine’s driver — a 20-year veteran of the department and an experienced driver — to swerve to the left across the road and into a parking lot, striking a masonry sign, the report said.
Due to parts delays — fire engines are made one at a time, and not in the millions like passenger vehicles, a fire official noted — it took more than eight months to get the repairs completed, according to the report.