The Newtown Fire and Emergency Services has announced the arrival of its new Enforcer Rescue Pumper.
For the next several weeks, the new truck will be housed at Station 55 in the township where additional equipment is being installed, Fire Company President Warren Dallas told the Newtown Township Board of Supervisors on July 14.
“Firefighters will be training on the new truck for the next month,” said Dallas. “And we expect to put the truck in service sometime in August.”
The Supervisors gave the Fire Association the okay last fall to proceed with the purchase of the new rescue pumper at no cost to the township*. [See “Insights” below.]
The new pumper will serve Newtown for easily the next 10 to 20 years, said Dallas, noting that the 2001 truck has been responding to calls in Newtown for the past 19 years.
The volunteer Newtown Fire Association [NFA] purchased the $716,000 Pierce truck with $500,000 in cash and by taking out a 15 year loan for $200,000.
Planning for the new truck began two years ago with the formation of a truck committee. Since then, the firefighters have conducted an extensive review of truck options, looked at 15 to 20 trucks and drove a bunch of them “all to try and get a sense of what is the right answer is for Newtown,” said Dallas.
Dallas noted that the committee included Newtown Township Emergency Services [NESD] career personnel. “We thank them for all the support they provided and all the details they helped us piece together,” he said.
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*The township, however, contributes $160,000 per year to the NFA according to a new 5-year agreement signed in October, 2020. Previously, Newtown Twp contributed $175,000 per year. I opposed the new agreement because of this cut in financial support (see the 2020 BOS voting record).
According to the NFA Rescue 45 announcement, "...much effort went into developing an economical, innovative, and safe rescue pumper that appropriately performs its intended functions following our known community threats and hazards. The new rescue pumper will provide enhanced safety and response capabilities for the members of the Newtown Fire Association and Newtown Emergency Services Department to better serve its residents, stakeholders, business, and visitors of Historic Newtown Borough and Township for many years to come."
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