The new truck replaces a 1995 pumper, which was traded in to First Choice Fire Apparatus towards the cost of the new truck. Rob Sax, chairman of the township’s Board of Commissioners, said he hopes this new vehicle will last the township 20 years.

Sax said the township took out a $400,000 loan to purchase the new vehicle for the department. The township has also applied for a Local Share Account (gaming) grant to help defray the cost.

Ritsick and several other firefighters agreed to show off their newly acquired equipment one recent morning.

Plains Township Fire Department responds to approximately 1,500 calls a year, and officials estimate the new pumper truck will respond to about 90 percent of them. It took two after the truck was delivered from the factory to put it into service because the 16 full-time and six part-time crew members had to mount equipment and train on the vehicle.

Ritsick said members of the department knew for three years they were going to need a new truck, and they set up a commission whose members worked with the commissioners for the past year to design the truck to the township's needs.

The township also bought the department some new tools, including a battery-powered Jaws of Life set -- a device used to free drivers from their vehicles after crashes -- and a new hose.

Officials with the fire department say the firefighter assigned to the unit was inside the hospital when the brush pumper was stolen.

Authorities say an individual drove the brush pumper across the service road and into ditch, where it became stuck.

The alleged suspect was arrested, and no injuries were reported.

However, the brush pumper did sustain damage to the front end and had to be towed.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation, although Concord Fire Captain William Noke said preliminary indications are that it started in Engine 4, which was destroyed in the fire. He said replacing Engine 4 could cost about $600,000.

Concord had to call in mutual aid companies to put out the fire, the department posted on its official Twitter account. "2nd alarm struck at 1201 Main Street, our station two,'' the tweet said. "CFD and mutual aid companies working.''

"Lead time, even on the new axles can be up to five to six months, so it's not one of those quick turn around things," Polk County Director of Fleet Maintenance Chuck Cheatham said.

"It's kind of premature in their life span, so in order to preserve the life of the vehicle, we're going to retrofit a more conventional suspension in it," Deputy Chief of Operations Tony Crouse said.

Spares are being used in place of the trucks out of service, and will continue to be used until all 12 are fixed.

"We need the trucks. We can't afford for them all to go into service. We are stretched a little bit, we have a lot of our spares in service," Cheatham said.

"When we have these component failures on these trucks it kind of cripples us for having a good, safe amount of spares," Crouse said.

This week County Commissioners approved spending $300,000 to replace the front suspension for all 12 firetrucks.

"The trucks are ten years old. They're probably half to two-thirds of their life gone. Do we want to replace them? Then you're talking six to seven million dollars," Cheatham said.