LIMA — If the Lima Fire Department needed to light up an area, they’d be ready with their newest engine, Battalion Chief Jack McDermitt said.
“If you turned on all the lights on this truck, you’d see it from the space station,” he said.
A brand new fire truck arrived at the Lima Fire Department Central station Wednesday morning, and throughout the next three days, Lima firefighters will be training to learn the ins and outs of the 450-horsepower fire engine able to pump 2,000 gallons a minute, extend a 75-foot ladder and store 500 gallons, or roughly 15 seconds worth, of water.
The new “Engine 1” will replace a similiar truck purchased in 1992, which will be retired as a frontline vehicle. The Lima Fire Department has two similar vehicles as the new engine in its automotive fleet.
The final cost for the vehicle was $785,278.73.
The planning process for the vehicle began in August 2016. A fire truck committee within the Lima Fire Department decided exactly what was needed for the vehicle, and the City of Lima gave them a limit on how much they could spend.
Unlike vehicles bought off car lots, new fire trucks are custom-made according to the department’s needs. The only part that is universal from model to model is the chassis.
The Lima Fire Department purchased its latest model from Sutphen, a fire truck manufacturer based out of Columbus. The company’s proximity to the area is one of the reasons the city decided to purchase the model from Sutphen.
The new vehicle has a few bells and whistles that the earlier model didn’t have, McDermitt said. Due to advances in technology, the deployment of the fire truck has largely been automated, which turns many jobs that were two-man jobs into one-man jobs.
Outside of the advanced computer system, local firefighters are familiar with many of the truck’s capabilities. Over the next few days, they’ll be learning maintenance procedures — both daily and monthly checks — to ensure they can keep the truck up and running without any problems. McDermitt estimated that the truck will see action on the streets in a little more than a month.
The new truck should last 25 to 30 years before it needs to be replaced like its predecessor.
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