WORCESTER - As two brand-new firetrucks were unveiled Tuesday, gleaming next to their worn and outdated counterparts, Fire Chief Geoffrey Gardell said he had to thank those who kept the old trucks going all this time."Kudos to my great maintenance mechanics for keeping these afloat," he said.Engine 15, from 1983, is the oldest in the Fire Department's fleet.
That truck and Engine 9, from 1989, will be replaced in the next few weeks by the new vehicles. The retired engines will be used as backup trucks. The new vehicles cost about $1 million combined, and the fire chief noted this is the first time since 1997 the Fire Department received more than one apparatus at a single time.The new trucks - E-One Cyclone custom pumpers – were blessed with holy water by the Rev. Walter Riley in a short service Tuesday morning at Fire Department headquarters on Grove Street.“Watch over those who use these vehicles from this day forward,” the department chaplain said as he spritzed the fronts of the cabs.Dignitaries at the ceremony included City Councilors Khrystian King and Kathleen Toomey, City Manager Edward M. Augustus Jr. and District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr.“There are so many tough jobs that we ask our public employees to do, it’s incumbent upon us to make sure they have the resources and equipment to do the job right,” Mr. Augustus said in his remarks.