The city of Troy’s fire department is adding a new truck after more than a decade.
The new Truck 2 is the department’s new firetruck since 2012, and is mounted with a 95-foot ladder and an EMS compartment. Speaking in front of the Knickerbacker Ice Arena Monday, Fire Chief Richard Cellucci says the department answers more than 14,000 fire and emergency medical services calls a year.
“That spare ladder truck that we took out of service a little over a year ago was a 1991. So, you know it became cost prohibitive to try to dump more money into it. And that's basically what happens. These are expensive vehicles. Repairs are expensive. We do a very good job of up keeping, but it gets to a point where it's just not it's not cost effective to keep throwing money into it,” Cellucci said.
Cellucci says getting this truck in service has been a long time coming.
“We ordered this truck two years ago. Like I said, a little over a year ago, we lost our spare. So, we've been kind of piecemealing it together. So this is a huge addition to the department,” Cellucci said.
District 6 Republican Thomas Casey, the city council’s majority leader, says as a retired fire captain, he knew the need for new equipment was urgent.
“When I first got on, the city was broke and we had equipment that was failing, and we had a malfunction on a fire truck, and it didn't produce water. And I was blown out of the house into the street with another firemen, and three people died,” Casey said.
Despite not having a spare of its own, Cellucci says the department made do by leasing an older one, and also relying on mutual aid from the Watervliet Arsenal and other area departments.
Republican Troy Mayor Carmella Mantello, the daughter of a former police officer, says the upgrade puts an end to temporary repairs on old trucks.
“Eventually those band-aids run out, so you know, it's up to us, all of us to keep planning for the future and lay that foundation for even when they are, as you can see, three, five, six years down the road,” Mantello said.
Frank Razzano has been a firefighter for 18 years. He says the new truck will make his work more efficient.
“The administration of the department is doing a good job making sure that we have the right equipment and that we have safe equipment. I feel like the chiefs and the mayor are committed to that. And that that makes us feel like we're respected and like our safety is important to them,” Razzano said.
Philip Vander Molen is President of Vander Molen Fire Apparatus Sales and Service, the vendor the city used for the truck.
“We started with where the last truck was specification-wise, updated some of the things that were obsolete, like the old motor to the new style motor, that type of thing, some of the old type of lighting that they don't make anymore, to the new type of lighting and that's where we started and then we sat with them and they said okay, what works well for you what doesn't work well for you,” Vander Molen said.
Other improvements include strengthened doors, more corrosion-resistant metal in the truck’s construction, and in a first for the city, a backup camera.
Firefighters are already training on the new truck.
Casey says the city hopes to have a new ambulance soon too following a vote earlier this year by the council approving the purchase.
“We actually have another ambulance on the way. So we're being very proactive. The Mantello administration is being very proactive, making sure that firemen have the equipment they need,” Casey said.
That ambulance is also on order through Vander Molen.
