A new Engine No. 2 for the Central Station of the Eufaula Fire and Rescue rolled into town shortly before lunch on Wednesday, Dec. 16, right before inclement weather set in for the remainder of the day.
The new truck, the second new fire truck for the city of Eufaula this year, was delivered to the Central Station to an audience that included Eufaula Fire Chief Greg Holmes, Mayor Jack Tibbs, city council members Jason Bennett, Bob Powers, Lucious Cobb, Johnny Knight and Barbara Flurry, along with many of the personnel on duty at the station.
Fire Chief Holmes showed off the new truck, that was custom built for the Eufaula Fire Department by Sunbelt Fire, pointing out some of the features on the new fire engine that had not been offered when the older trucks owned by the city was purchased. He pointed out features included on this truck that was not on the first new truck that arrived in September. The new truck includes hard suction hoses, which will allow firefighters to suction water from lakes, ponds, or pools to help fight fires when no other water source is available.
"We went through our list of equipment that is required by ISO to have on the truck, to receive credit for the truck, and checked off what we already had here and ordered the stuff we had to have. Several new nozzles had to be ordered to replace older ones that were to the point of being worn out, and a deck gun for on top of the truck. The bigger ticket items were included in the bid specs, but we had a lot of stuff already that we will be putting on the truck.
"The fire hose for it we already have, "Chief Holmes commented. "Every year we add it into our budget for the next year, to have hose on standby. Fortunately for the last three years, we have been buying enough hose, a little bit at a time, to have for a new truck. Fire hose, the big yellow hose, is $585 for one section and when you are required to have 1000 feet of hose on a truck that can be an expensive purchase at one time. It's better to buy a little at a time and store it so when you need it, you have it."
Features included on the New E-One Fire Apparatus, that is a 2015 E-One Typhoon, are a 1250 GPM pump and is capable of carrying 1000 gallons of water and a 30 gallon foam tank. An on board generator is mounted in one of the compartments, and has a safety feature included that will not allow it to run unless it is pulled out from the storage compartment on a specially designed drawer.
Holmes elaborated that this truck has much larger compartment spaces and is equipment with four pre-connect attack connections, one in the rear of the fire truck, two speed lays at the pump panel, and a jump line in the front bumper. It also has one 2 1/2 inch hand line pre-connect. The hose bed of the new Engine No. 2 will be equipped with 1000 ft. of 5 inch hose and as well as 3 inch hose. The cost of the new fire truck was $379,900.
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