The $570,124 truck was designed by Wilson firefighters and constructed by Pierce Manufacturing in Appleton, Wisconsin. The process started more than a year ago under the leadership of former Fire Chief Don Oliver and was completed under Alston's tenure, with a final inspection in January and delivery of the truck in February.
"For this type of truck, this price is really a steal," Alston said. "It was the lowest bid, and it was built by a great manufacturer. Pierce is one of your top notch fire truck manufacturers."
The shiny new rescue pumper replaces a 1994 Simon-Duplex truck that Alston said was decommissioned even before the replacement arrived. The old truck had more than 100,000 miles on it, and replacement parts were impossible to find since the manufacturer went out of business.
"We sat down and looked at the cost versus benefit of keeping it, but we were spending so much money to keep it in service," he said. "While this truck was being built, we put the Simon out of commission because it was not prudent to continue to spend taxpayer dollars on it."