Clarksville, Indiana
A new, approximately $1 million fire truck, recently purchased by the town of Clarksville, is too large to fit in the town’s professional firehouses. “Our Station No. 2 is not big enough to house it,” said Fire Chief Bob Hansford. The ladder truck is being kept at the department’s volunteer firehouse on Hale Road, leaving officials to consider an up to $100,000 contract to staff the volunteer house with a certified driver.“We’re trying to go the cheapest route,” said Clarksville Town Councilman Don Tetley, a liaison between the council and the department. He said the town may contract with McCullough Volunteer Fire Department in order to have a qualified driver there. The truck was purchased about a month ago, Hansford said. It replaces a ladder truck that had been purchased in 1971. The door of the Hale Road facility, Station No. 3, had to be raised to get it inside, Tetley said. Not only is it too big, but it also takes three people to operate it and there’s not enough firefighters at Station No. 2 to man both it and the pumper trucks, Hansford said. Ladder trucks are considered support vehicles, he said. The paid firefighters are “attackers,” meaning that when they arrive at a scene, the first order of business is working the hoses, he said.Tetley estimates that as many as 30 volunteer firefighters report to Station No. 3, when an alarm is sounded. “The bottom line is, we want somebody there [around the clock,]” said Tetley. “We want to make sure we have a driver there to bring this truck.” Earlier this month, the Clarksville Redevelopment Commission approved spending on the contract. Tetley, commission president, said the contract would be the most cost-effective route. As the town moves forward with the deal, Clarksville — not McCullough — would be responsible for training the new driver.
Already, Hansford said some of the volunteers are training on the vehicle. “We should have it on the road shortly,” he said.
More from the News & Tribune story, including some all too familiar reader comments here.
6 comments:
A million bucks?!?!?! What does this thing have that others dont?
How many of our firefighters have CDL's or non commercial licenses or have been trained to handle a rig as big as the one they keep tearing up?
Certified? People have to be certified?
Are Salisbury's?
Another FD with great planning. The one here was over a million.
Take the last train to Clarksville and I'll meet you at the station...
This is not a million dollar "engine". If you look closely you will see a ladder on top of it. This is a "ladder truck". A large differance!
The only thing that would make this Indiana dept. even stupider is if they sent their engines somewhere as far away as Maryland to get them painted.
I have 13 Years in the Fire service. I think a few idiots should lose their jobs over this, Come on!!!! no one thought to measure the house that the Arial truck was to kept in???? This starts at the top,,Chief, apparatus design board, town council. Again another waste of tax money.
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