Mary Alice Reporting – Coming in 2024, a local fire department will be outfitted with a new engine.
The Village of Strasburg and Franklin Township helped to make the 2,000-gallon tanker a reality to provide services for their communities and businesses.
Chief Steven Laskey says it will be a specifically built model and is set up to be dual-purpose as a primary engine or as a tanker.
“Our standard engine right now is 1,000 gallons, it’s going to be slightly longer [and] we’re talking a couple inches longer so it’s going to fit in our building nicely, and it’s custom built for our needs.”
They contract services to the township and Laskey explains that the extra water storage will be an asset since the village has hydrants but outside the limits there are none.
“We staff three people during the day and two overnight. We staff 24 hours a day. Due to our limited staffing, we wanted to go ahead and run a truck that would allow us to have more water without relying on having to tie a hydrant therefore buying us more time to get to the seat of the fire with a limited personnel.”
Funding is coming from the village, the fire departments own budget, the township from an equipment levy, and a down payment thanks to a local business. The total cost is estimated around $805,000.
Strasburg Fire’s current tanker and the oldest engine will be taken out of service as they are aged and require costly repairs to keep operable.
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