The new truck replaces a vehicle that was 20 years old, and it was time for an update, said Elmira Heights Fire Chief Michael Cadek.

The truck will be used primarily for emergency medical calls and offers more features than the old truck, which will be sold to another fire department, Cadek said.

"Four years ago we started our can and bottle drive. We've probably collected about a million bottles and cans, and that gave us enough to replace our EMS truck," Cadek said. "The price (of the new truck) was $65,000 and it was funded entirely by the bottle and can drive. It gives us more tools, so we don't have to rely on other departments as much."

The city purchased the new truck in order to put an older truck in reserve.

About 10 years ago the city put a reserve truck out of service and, until now, the truck was not replaced. With the addition of Champion to the fleet, the fire department can again have a truck in reserve. Reserve trucks are used as backup if an in-service truck undergoes maintenance. Champion will be housed at Fire Station Two, located at 15th Avenue and Industrial Road.

The cost of the new truck was right at $500,000 and the city paid for it up front so there would be no interest owed on the purchase. The truck was funded by a bond. The firetruck was purchased through Conrad, a dealer for Pierce Fire Apparatus. The city elected Pierce as the builder through a bidding process.

At $500,000, the firetruck has some new bells and whistles.

The new truck has a 15-foot light tower to light up fire scenes at night. The truck also has the ability to carry foam. While foam has been an alternate extinguishing agent for about 20 years, none of the older Emporia trucks have the capacity to hold foam. The truck can hold two different types of foam, class A and B, which are used for different classifications of fires.

"This will replace the 1987 pumper that was purchased by (former fire chief) Wilson Craig," Interim Fire Chief Bryan Thornton told the City Council during their regular meeting Monday.

Thornton said the '87 model has the older lap belts, it has metal fatigue and is difficult to replace parts.

City Council members voted 4-0 to approve the pumper's purchase with money borrowed and repaid over seven years. Thornton said the pumper, along with other factors, will help the city lower its fire-insurance rating — from a 3 to, possibly, a 2 — which could mean lower insurance costs for homeowners and others.

The Fire Department agreed to spend no more than $517,314 to buy the E-ONE brand pumper from SunBelt Fire of Fairhope through the city's membership in the Helping Governments Across the Country (HGAC) Buy Cooperative Purchasing Program.

The Olean City Fire Department’s state-issued foam sprayer proved useful Wednesday at a railroad disaster one county over.

Several Olean firefighters responded in the early morning hours with a trailer carrying the sprayer to a derailed Norfolk Southern train that was leaking ethanol in the Chautauqua County town of Ripley. Fire Chief Robert Bell said the sprayer was dispatched at 12:26 a.m. to the scene of a reported 16 tipped railcars, of which two tankers had sustained damage spilling their contents.

The foam is sprayed to dilute volatile chemicals and oil spills or to douse severe blazes, Bell said.