Firefighters Mike Nothe (left) and Jason Mele (right) said they believe the Quint truck has greatly enhanced the abilities of the Fire Department since it began utilizing the Quint in August 2015.
The Fire Department’s new $750,000 Quint fire truck has exceeded the expectations of town officials since the department began utilizing it in August 2015.
Town Manager Stephen Crane told Reminder Publications one of the greatest abilities the 78-foot Quint ladder truck gives the department is to put out fires from above with speed and efficiency.
Firefighter and Paramedic Mike Nothe said the Quint has more benefits than a regular ladder truck.
"We're able to get into a lot more tight spaces in town – small driveways,” he explained.
Firefighter and Paramedic Jason Mele said the size of the Quint is a “perfect fit” for Longmeadow.
“There’s a lot of smaller streets in town where trying to maneuver a full-size ladder truck through would be close to impossible, if not impossible,” he added. “Before we had the Quint, we had to rely on mutual aid. Both of our mutual aid ladder trucks would have had a harder time negotiating, particularly the fire on Elmwood [Avenue].”
The new Quint truck, which features a permanently mounted ladder pump that has a flow capacity of 500 to 1,000 gallons of water per minute, replaced a more than 25-year-old fire engine that was sold to a government surplus website for $6,800.