Allentown's firefighters made a public plea to City Council to invest in new firetrucks, saying a current equipment shortage has reached a "crisis" level. Keith Pierce, the city fire department's safety representative, said that as of this week, all of the city's reserve fire equipment has been moved to the front line because of break downs with other gear.
If one more fire truck breaks, the city will be forced to respond to fires with pickup trucks, Pierce said Wednesday. "We are essentially returning to material conditions that we were in nine years ago," he said.
Firefighter Adam Perreault told council that the fire department is the only city department without an approved equipment replacement plan even though the fire chief has repeatedly submitted one.