New Truck gives Fire Dept. Big Boost
Firefighting in the City of Marion should get a little easier thanks to a $275,000 aerial-ladder fire truck that recently arrived here from Pittsburg, Penn.
City Police and Fire Commissioner David Hancock said the truck will allow the city to fight fires at its tallest buildings, including both hi-rises, Marion Memorial Hospital and at the VA Medical Center, and could save not only lives, but thousands and thousands of dollars in property damage.
“Without a doubt, it’s going to save lives and property damage,” Hancock said. “It’s been proven that this piece of equipment will do both.”
The state-of-the-art truck has a ladder that can reach about 85 feet in the air, which gives firefighters the chance to fight a fire at a tall building, from the air instead of from the ground. The truck can also shoot out 1,000 gallons of water a minute, “which literally can blow a fire out in a minute,” Hancock said.
There’s a distinct advantage to fighting a fire from the air, Hancock said.
For one, it saves time because firefighters can get directly to the fire, he said. “Before we had to go inside (a building) and work our way through the best we could,” he said.
“It (the truck) just gives us added protection and allows us to get the fire faster.”
Hancock said there are “several places in town” where the new truck could be needed. He said the truck will be used on all business fires and in sections of towns where there are tall buildings.
The truck, on order for several months, arrived last Friday, but will not be ready for service until the week of Feb 22. Hancock said equipment needs to be installed on the truck and a factory representative inspects it before it can be put into use.
The city purchased the truck from a Pittsburg, Penn. manufacturer at a cost of $250,000. The city is spending another $25,000 on additional equipment for it.
Hancock said the city got a “real good price” for the truck because it’s actually worth “about $100,000 more” than what the city paid. The city bought the truck through the City of St. Louis which ordered about 15 different fire trucks of its own, Hancock said.
Hancock said the truck is just one of about four steps the city is taking to lower fire insurance rates in Marion Addition. Additional steps call for replacing old lines, he said.
The truck also wasn’t due to arrive until about April or May. Hancock said the truck came in earlier because they “just got ahead of production,” he said.
(Marion Daily Republican, February 9, 1988, article by T.S. Tierman Jr. of the Daily Republican)