The city purchased the new truck in order to put an older truck in reserve.

About 10 years ago the city put a reserve truck out of service and, until now, the truck was not replaced. With the addition of Champion to the fleet, the fire department can again have a truck in reserve. Reserve trucks are used as backup if an in-service truck undergoes maintenance. Champion will be housed at Fire Station Two, located at 15th Avenue and Industrial Road.

The cost of the new truck was right at $500,000 and the city paid for it up front so there would be no interest owed on the purchase. The truck was funded by a bond. The firetruck was purchased through Conrad, a dealer for Pierce Fire Apparatus. The city elected Pierce as the builder through a bidding process.

At $500,000, the firetruck has some new bells and whistles.

The new truck has a 15-foot light tower to light up fire scenes at night. The truck also has the ability to carry foam. While foam has been an alternate extinguishing agent for about 20 years, none of the older Emporia trucks have the capacity to hold foam. The truck can hold two different types of foam, class A and B, which are used for different classifications of fires.

"This will replace the 1987 pumper that was purchased by (former fire chief) Wilson Craig," Interim Fire Chief Bryan Thornton told the City Council during their regular meeting Monday.

Thornton said the '87 model has the older lap belts, it has metal fatigue and is difficult to replace parts.

City Council members voted 4-0 to approve the pumper's purchase with money borrowed and repaid over seven years. Thornton said the pumper, along with other factors, will help the city lower its fire-insurance rating — from a 3 to, possibly, a 2 — which could mean lower insurance costs for homeowners and others.

The Fire Department agreed to spend no more than $517,314 to buy the E-ONE brand pumper from SunBelt Fire of Fairhope through the city's membership in the Helping Governments Across the Country (HGAC) Buy Cooperative Purchasing Program.

The Olean City Fire Department’s state-issued foam sprayer proved useful Wednesday at a railroad disaster one county over.

Several Olean firefighters responded in the early morning hours with a trailer carrying the sprayer to a derailed Norfolk Southern train that was leaking ethanol in the Chautauqua County town of Ripley. Fire Chief Robert Bell said the sprayer was dispatched at 12:26 a.m. to the scene of a reported 16 tipped railcars, of which two tankers had sustained damage spilling their contents.

The foam is sprayed to dilute volatile chemicals and oil spills or to douse severe blazes, Bell said.

Indianapolis Fire Department officials unveiled a consolidation plan Tuesday that would include closing two fire houses, repurposing another into a firefighter fitness center and building a new station that's expected to cost at least $3 million.

IFD Chief Ernest Malone released the details of his plan to the press an hour before he was set to speak with community organizers  Tuesday evening at the Broad Ripple Village Association meeting, one of the neighborhoods that would be affected by consolidation.

The pitch, which the department is calling its "2016 Redeployment Effort," focuses on a "holistic review" of IFD by putting resources in high-volume areas and cutting costs. No firefighters would lose jobs but could get reassigned to other stations.

Under the plan, Butler-Tarkington would lose its fire station — Station 16 at 5555 N. Illinois St. — as part of a consolidation with nearby Station 32 at 6330 Guilford Ave. in the heart of Broad Ripple. Its engine would relocate to Station 32, too.