Mara H. Gottfried

Pioneer Press

(TNS)

St. Paul will be the first fire department in Minnesota with a fully-electric fire truck, the mayor and fire chief announced Wednesday.

Rosenbauer, a design and manufacturing company, has started the build process for St. Paul’s truck and delivery is expected by 2025. It’s planned to coincide with the completion of a new Fire Station 7 on the East Side.

The city is submitting federal funding requests to support the purchase. Information wasn’t immediately available Wednesday about the cost of the fire truck.

“It brings us all the critical green energy benefits of an electric vehicle, while meeting the high safety and efficiency standards we have for all our fire equipment,” Mayor Melvin Carter said in a statement.

The city’s “Climate Action & Resilience Plan” focuses on achieving carbon neutrality in city operations by 2030 and citywide by 2050. “In addition to furthering climate goals, this investment helps reduce diesel emissions and supports firefighters’ overall health and wellbeing,” the city said in a statement.

The fire departments in Los Angeles, Calif., and Vancouver, British Columbia, have also purchased the Rosenbauer RTX electric fire truck, according to the city.

The truck’s final assembly will happen at Rosenbauer’s facility in Wyoming, Minn.

• WATCH: MN Governor Unveils State’s First Electric Fire Truck

The Shawnee Fire Department has installed a new station alert system designed to wake sleeping firefighters less abruptly for nighttime callouts.

The alerting system, which cost $150,000, wakes firefighters with a red light instead of a bright one and an alarm that starts softer before increasingly getting louder, KMBC reports.

The new systems, which replace the blaring horns that awaken firefighters, are designed to place less stress on the heart when firefighters are toned out in the middle of the night.

The department also hopes the new heart-healthy alerting system will make the workplace more appealing and help it attract and retain firefighters.

Read the features and news on fire trucks and fire equipment from the March 2023 issue of Fire Apparatus & Emergency Equipment magazine.

Florissant Fire-Rescue District held a special ceremony to dedicate its newest light rescue truck as an addition to the fleet, mountainjackport.com reported.

Members of the community then helped push the light rescue rig into the garage to signify its status as officially being in commission to help serve those in the community who are in need, the report said.