NBS Joint Fire District has welcomed a new pumper-tanker truck to its fleet. The fire district took possession of the new truck in early November and put it into service the first week of December. The department is updating some of the equipment, Chief Dennis Kessler said.
The truck holds 2,500 gallons of water. Water always has been the challenge in rural firefighting, Kessler said.
A pumper truck carries a limited amount of water and can be hooked up to a hydrant, and a tanker truck is what is used to carry water. The fire district's new truck is a hybrid: It has a pump that allows personnel to deliver water to a fire, and it still is able to carry water for sustained operations.
The truck, which is to be used as a first-run building firefighting truck, and the department's current tanker, which carries 3,000 gallons of water, will allow the department to deliver 5,500 gallons of water to a fire scene to buy time until a department offering mutual aid comes, Kessler said.
He said that depending on the fire, the department often needs 10,000 to 15,000 gallons of water to fight a fire in a rural setting.
The new truck replaces a 1983 pumper. The fire district's fleet also includes one grass fire truck, an equipment van, an engine and a tanker.