Aaron Curtis
The Sun, Lowell, Mass.
(TNS)

DRACUT — In a nod to tradition, the Dracut Fire Department celebrated the arrival of two new fire trucks recently purchased by the town with a “push-in” ceremony on Wednesday.

According to the Dracut Fire Department, the ceremony is a tradition that dates back to the era of horse-drawn fire carriages, which were detached from the horses and manually pushed back into the fire stations, as horses cannot walk backward.

As part of the ceremony, Fire Department Chaplain Rev. Larry Zimmerman led firefighters in a prayer to bless the two new trucks.

Both trucks are Ford F-550 all-wheel-drive vehicles, each carrying 330 gallons of water, 30 gallons of Class A foam, and capable of pumping 1,250 gallons of water per minute. Designed as multi-purpose vehicles, they can respond to the myriad emergencies Dracut firefighters face daily.

Each truck cost about $400,000, and were purchased as part of the town’s capital expenditure plan.

Fire Chief Richard Patterson stated that the primary mission of the trucks is to respond to medical emergencies. However, both vehicles are also equipped to fight building fires, brush fires, and to tow the department’s marine units to water incidents.

“These trucks do not replace traditional, full-sized pumper trucks, but they will greatly reduce wear and tear on our pumper trucks, which cost about a million dollars each,” Patterson said in a press release. “We expect the Squad 1 and Squad 3 trucks to help us extend the life expectancy of our pumper trucks by about five years.”

Patterson thanked the town for purchasing the two new trucks, which he said will increase the department’s abilities to efficiently respond to calls.

“Responding to medical calls is a major part of what we do, and these two new trucks will enable us to respond to those calls without tying up our pumper trucks and larger equipment,” Patterson said.

Follow Aaron Curtis on X, formerly known as Twitter, @aselahcurtis

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(c)2024 The Sun, Lowell, Mass.

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VINCE RICHARDSON
Skagit Valley Herald, Mount Vernon, Wash.
(TNS)

SEDRO-WOOLLEY — The Sedro-Woolley City Council authorized the city’s fire department Wednesday to purchase a stretcher, and Mayor Julia Johnson swore in 10 fire department personnel as well as a police officer.

The $30,000 purchase price of the Stryker Pro Stretcher raised some eyebrows.

“They are spendy,” Fire Chief Frank Wagner said. “Even the manual ones are way up there now in price. The last manual one we purchased that had no bells, whistles or hydraulics or anything was I believe about $17,000.”

Wagner said this is the fourth such stretcher for the department.

The high-tech stretcher has the ability to lift 700 pounds.

“Even a 200-pound person, if you are taking them in and out of a house and up and down stairs it’s already hard enough,” Wagner said. “With this stretcher, you can make the transition with only two people, instead of four, five or six.

“So it also helps manage resources when you are short on staffing and responding to multiple calls.”

The new stretcher should make things easier on the fire department’s personnel.

Wagner said the department had a firefighter unable to work for about a year after severely injuring a shoulder while transporting a patient.

“You figure one full-time employee, you lose them for a year the amount of overtime you pay not to mention some of these folks never recover and never get to come back to work,” Wagner said.

“It does hurt when you start looking at the bottom of that invoice, but when look at what is saves, it’s worth the price.”

Also Wednesday, the city welcomed 10 fire department personnel — firefighter/EMTs Devon Heckard, Jacob Braaten, LaRen Gevaart-Rossie, Jack Cole, Dillon Russell, Drew Jenkins, Bobby Castilleja and Sean O’Neill, and firefighter/paramedics Brandon Paulson and Philip Chong — and police officer Joseph Eggert.

The city was able to add to its fire department after residents passed a levy for additional funding.

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(c)2024 the Skagit Valley Herald (Mount Vernon, Wash.)

Visit the Skagit Valley Herald (Mount Vernon, Wash.) at www.goskagit.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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