According to Ute Fire Chief Gary Goslar this $5,000 donation completes nearly four years of fundraising efforts for the purchase of the 2019 Chevrolet Quick Attack truck.  

“I want everyone to know that the entire cost of the truck, $64,000, has been raised by grants, donations, and fundraisers,” he said.

While the City of Ute did make the initial purchase of the truck, the fire department will reimburse the city for the entire cost.

“We track the usage of the trucks by engine hours as opposed to miles driven; it’s something I have to explain each year when talking about our budget,” Cole said. “A lot of the wear and tear that comes with a pump truck comes when the truck is idle; such as when we are responding to a fire and pumping water through the truck; those are well-spent engine hours but it’s not putting any more mileage on the vehicle.”  

Cole said that the department actually employs some older trucks, including models from 1994 and 1995, but the department keeps the trucks in operation because they fit inside the smaller Pinehurst station garage.

The man was traveling near Northeast 63rd Street and North Midwest Boulevard when his vehicle collided with the fire truck, according to officials. The fire truck was responding to another crash and was parked. Authorities said the fire truck was getting ready to move when the speeding vehicle slammed into it.

Engine 72 will be named “Jack” after Fillman, who was responsible for adding advanced life-support service to the county’s Fire Rescue operation, Fire Chief Jim Dickerson said in a news release. The $350,000 fire engine will feature new Fire Rescue graphics that eventually will be incorporated on all Fire Rescue trucks.