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Escambia County’s Four New Fire Trucks Will Soon Be Ready For Service
July 22, 2020
Four new fire engines will soon be in service in Escambia County.
As NorthEscambia.com first reported earlier this month, the four 2019 Pierce Enforcer fire engines will replacing aging trucks in Molino, Ensley, Myrtle Grove and Pleasant Grove.
“The role of updated equipment and prevention efforts in providing quality fire protection cannot be overstated,” Public Safety Director Jason Rogers said. “Escambia County Fire Rescue is excited to get these trucks on the line to serve the community.”
One of the two new rescue trucks will replace the current 2011 model front line engine assigned to Ensley Fire Station. The other truck will replace the 2003 model year apparatus front line engine assigned to Molino Fire Station.
A squad engine will replace a 2002 model year apparatus rescue engine currently assigned to Pleasant Grove Fire Station, and a standard engine will replace the current 2004 model rescue engine apparatus assigned to Myrtle Grove Fire Station.
“These are new state-of-the-art fire apparatus that will ensure our personnel have safe and reliable apparatus for enhanced service delivery to our citizens and visitors,” said Fire Chief Paul Williams. “By implementing our apparatus replacement plan this allows for one or two apparatus to be purchased annually as we move forward opposed to the large truck purchases in the past. We want to thank the BOCC and staff for moving LOST funds forward and allowing for this purchase to happen this year, we are in need of updating our fleet and this is a great start.”
Williams told NorthEscambia.com that the trucks will be in service and responding to calls in about two weeks.
“They are still being upfitted and we are in the process of scheduling the orientation class offered by Pierce that teaches the new customers the operations of the truck,” he said.
Each truck features Cummins L9 450 horsepower engine, a 750-gallon tank, a Hale 1500-gallon per minute pump, a deck gun and seating for five personnel. The rear-forward facing crew cab seats, and an EMS compartment above each front wheel. The trucks also feature cargo netting with a single pull lanyard that secures the EMS compartments, a coated interior, vinyl seats, and headliner help with cab decontamination. The vertical exhaust keeps heat and emissions away from firefighters working around the apparatus.
In addition to providing dependable, state-of-the-art equipment, having new engines under warranty will also decrease repair and maintenance costs which have increased significantly due to the aging fleet, the county said when the purchase was approved unanimously by the Escambia County Commission about a year ago.
The four new vehicles were purchased for a total of $2,036,267 using Local Option Sales Tax funds.
Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Comments
3 Responses to “Escambia County’s Four New Fire Trucks Will Soon Be Ready For Service”
Southend resident, sorry I hit a key and shipped my reply before I was finished. Yes we all pay the LOST sales tax, but so do Alabama residents when they come into Florida to by groceries to avoid the Alabama sales tax on them, and so do tourist who come to visit Florida staying or passing through Escambia County. I have been a supporter of the LOST tax from the start and always will be. I was also a Volunteer Fire Fighter in Escambia County for 23 years. I was present when the MSBU first started and I remember the fire stations this fund bought, the first 3 were in the north end. The whole fire community in Escambia County received an immediate benefit of not having to spend time on our fund drives, this gave us back 3 months of time we could spend training. I agree with you on the updating of our fire equipment, we must keep this up and not let our County Commissioners forget this. Thanks
Southend resident, If you read the article you will see that the trucks were paid with LOST funds not the MSBU fire tax. Not sure that this makes much of a difference but we all need to aware of the value of the LOST tax fund to this county and yes north, central, south and beach as well as the key residents pay for the LOST
I am glad that we are updating some of our equipment, good dependable equipment is a must for our fire departments. With that being said the Walnut Hill fire department still has equipment from the 90″s. When we do get equipment it has been passed down from at least 2 other departments and is now our problem child to deal with. We pay the same taxes as the south end and deserve good dependable equipment also. I realize we are a rural area and our calls are not as frequent , but either way our homes are just as important and we deserve new equipment. Really we should get new equipment first because we do not have as many stations as they do in town and if we have a mechanical failure we do not have back up as close as they do in town.