CLYDE - Clyde Fire Chief Craig Davis said his department has waited a long time to get delivery of its new 2016 KME pumper-tanker. "In the 2014 budget hearing in October is when council gave us the approval for 2015," Davis said.
The department then spent most of a year reviewing specifications for the truck it wanted and reviewing manufacturers. The order for the truck was placed in September 2015.
It took more than a year for the 39-foot pumper-tanker to be delivered, arriving last November and going into service on Dec. 28.
Firefighters have been training on the new truck, which replaced two other vehicles — a 1987 engine and a 1989 tanker.
The new truck is three-fourths the length of the department's aerial truck, Davis said. It is housed at the department's McPherson Highway fire station.
The truck has been outfitted with equipment that boosted its price tag to $602,000, which will be paid by the city. Once the pumper-tanker arrived, firefighters outfitted it with new hose and other equipment.
"We probably had another $12,000 we added," Davis said.
This new truck carries 2,500 gallons of water. Overall, it cost less or the same as replacing the two trucks that were retired. In looking at the need for this one truck, the department considered maintenance of one vehicle rather than two, as well as available manpower.
"I can get this truck to a fire with limited manpower," Davis pointed out. That was an important point in a volunteer fire department, he said.