New fire truck put into service locally

Written By Paula Brown

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Don't be alarmed, Shelburne & District Fire Department has put a new fire truck into service. 

Fire Chief Ralph Snyder and volunteer firefighters for the local department held a small outdoor ceremony last Thursday (Jan. 6) to officially mark the new truck being put into service.

From outside the fire hall, firefighters teamed up to push the new truck back into the station as part of a “push-in” ceremony. Chief Snyder explained the ceremony is a long standing tradition that honours the days when firefighters had to actually push their trucks back into the station after a call because they were wagons pulled by horses. 

The new truck will be replacing the local fire department's old 1999 pumper. Initially the fire department was approved to purchase a rescue truck, but due to various delays such as the shortage in vehicle chips and delivery dates pushed to 2024, the department chose to replace the pumper instead.

“This truck was coming off the line prebuilt in red, so we negotiated and they gave us a pretty good deal to buy it,”
said Snyder. 

The total cost for the new truck is about $588,000, which is about $130,000 over the price of a rescue truck, but is at least $75,000 cheaper than what a pumper coming through custom order would cost.  

Residents will likely notice the different look to the new pumper truck, which is fire red amongst the fleet of yellow trucks that Shelburne has been using for many years. 

Snyder told the Free Press that the decision to keep the prebuilt truck red was related to cost savings. 

“It was going to cost us over $20,000 to get a yellow truck,” said Snyder. “I can buy a lot of equipment that will save lives and protect property for $20,000, and the color of the fire truck will never save a life.” 

Colour aside, Snyder noted the features the updated truck has that will help firefighters at the department further aid
the community.

“This truck has a very loud siren, which is very nice when we're running car accidents on highway 10, 24 and 89. People will hear us coming and it's got a very nice light package on it,” said Snyder. “We ordered some very specific nozzles for rural firefighting too so that we can draft water easier than what we could in the past.” 

With the new pumper truck now here and in service, the oldest truck the Shelburne Fire Department has running is its 2004 rescue.

“We try to replace them every 15 to 20 years; our frontline trucks 15 years, but they go to a backup truck for another 5 years,” said Snyder. 

Shelburne & District Fire Department's fleet of vehicles continues to include two pumpers, a rescue, a ladder, and a 300 gallon tanker truck as well was an SUV and pickup truck.