The Dauphin Fire Department is ordering a new fire truck.
The one it’ll be replacing is 20 years old, and is starting to show its age.
“The current one is a 1998 and although it doesn’t sound that old, it showing its age with the amount of miles that its put on. This is the truck that responds to every single vehicle accident and every single structure fire regardless of it being within the city of the RM. It’s also a mobile command unit, so its been used in large-scale incidents throughout the Parkland when going out to mutual aid calls.”
Cam Abrey says over the past year they figured out what the current needs for the truck are.
“Now our needs have changed, and our service delivery is changed. Where those neighbouring departments have bought their own equipment, and they’ve taken the training for their own firefighters in order to serve their citizens. We’ve downsized the truck. So rather than it carrying eight firefighters and all the equipment that it has on it, such as a mobile air bottle fill station for the FCBA bottles, we’ve gotten rid of some of that equipment and reduced our maintenance costs associated with that as well.”
The replacement is part of the City of Dauphin’s Equipment reserve’s 15-year capital replacement plan.
The new truck is expected to arrive in the late fall, around October or November.
“A lot of that is based on the fact that the cabin chassis, although it is a commercial cabin chassis, it’s going to be built on a Freightliner. These aren’t vehicles that are sitting on a dealership lot anywhere. So when the order is placed, than Freightliner, which this one will be, starts the manufacturing of the cabin chassis. Takes a few months for that to happen and be delivered to Winnipeg, where it’s going to be constructed by Fort Garry Fire Trucks.”
