New ladder truck scheduled to arrive next week
The Kingston Fire Department’s new $1 million ladder truck is due to arrive next week, according to Fire Chief Mark Brown.
On Thursday, Brown and other members of the department, including Bryan Cafaldo, president of Kingston Professional Firefighters Association Local 461, visited the manufacturing plant in Ephrata, Pa., where the truck was assembled.
Brown said a final inspection of the truck turned up no problems and that it will be delivered next week. The firefighters’ union said on its Facebook page that training on the new truck will begin as soon as it arrives.
Delivery of the truck was has been delayed a couple of times, which Brown called “frustrating.” One of the delays was due to manufacturer Smeal Fire Apparatus being bought by Spartan ERV.
The new ladder truck, like the one it will replace, is a tiller truck. A tiller truck requires drivers at both the front and rear; a straight truck is driven only from the front.
The Kingston Fire Department’s current ladder truck dates to 1998 and has been beset by breakdowns in recent years.
It was five years ago that the Kingston Common Council authorized borrowing the money needed for the new truck, which is being bought through a purchasing cooperative called the National Joint Powers Alliance.
In July 2017, the city purchased a used fire truck from the New Paltz Fire Department. The 1995 pumper can put out 1,750 gallons of water per minute and will be used when one of Kingston’s other pumper trucks is out of service, which is often, Brown has said.