New fire truck to be ready for use by January

Date: 11/23/2009

By Courtney Llewellyn

Reminder Assistant Editor



EAST LONGMEADOW -- It took nearly a year and a half, but the East Longmeadow Fire Department finally has a new fire truck.

Voters unanimously approved $500,000 for a new truck and equipment at an Annual Town Meeting in spring 2008, but the first request for bids for the new truck resulted in only one bid an expensive one, according to Fire Chief Richard Brady.

Rather than waste the town's money, the fire department went out to bid again, and the second time found a better offer from Pierce Manufacturing. The Contender model, in lime green with all the safety features, came in at $390,000.

"By rebidding we saved over $80,000," Selectman Jim Driscoll noted.

Some of the safety features the new pumper includes are reflective chevron striping on the back of the truck, a monitoring black box, seat belt sensors, tire pressure sensors, a stabilization unit to help keep the truck upright, high visibility vests for all firefighters and a defibrillator.

"The safety features are what I'm really pleased about," Brady stated.

The truck's chassis was made in Wisconsin and the rest of the vehicle assembled in Florida. From there, it was driven to a testing facility in Walpole, Mass., before being delivered in East Longmeadow on Nov. 13. Brady said the original timetable would have the truck coming in by Jan. 29, 2010.

"Our oldest truck is 28 years old," Brady explained. "We get custom trucks and we hope to get 25 years from them."

Driscoll added that a town-mandated maintenance plan keeps the trucks in good working condition.

The fire department currently has three pumpers, one ladder truck and one rescue vehicle. Brady said the old pumper that was replaced this year will be kept at the fire house as a back up and will see limited use.

Before the new truck can be put into use, it has to be filled with new firefighting equipment, which Brady said totals about $100,000. The cost of the equipment was included in the original vote.

"We have to put the equipment in the proper places, and then we'll train the full-time staff, then the call firefighters," Brady explained. He expects the training to be completed and the truck to be fully operational by the end of the year.

"The crew likes the new truck," he added. "They've been biting at the bit to use it.