Two Fire Trucks Purchased

The Van Fire Department has acquired two new 2008 Ford F-550 Chassis, which will replace the 1997 and 2000 models currently in service. The new trucks are four wheel drive with V-10 gasoline engines.

One was purchased with grant money from the Texas Forest Service and one through the city of Van on a municipal discount program.

The Department plans to have the tanks and fire pumps from the old trucks remounted on the new chassis, saving the city approximately $90,000.

"A new brush truck can run about $55-60,000 for a basic unit," says fire captain Nick Sandifer. "The sticker price for these two chassis alone would have been about $72,000, if we didn’t use grant money".

With the high cost of diesel fuel and diesel engine maintenance, these trucks will be cheaper to operate and maintain. "We started a program in 2007 to check each truck we have on a monthly basis, inventorying equipment and performing preventative maintenance" says assistant chief Jeff Hudgens. "With the cost of fire apparatus always going up, we want to make sure our equipment lasts."

Fire Tech, an apparatus company based in Lindale, will be remounting the trucks one at a time, leaving the department with only one brush truck for the next two months.