SALEM, Va. – The city of Salem has a new fire truck and three new ambulances.
The fire and EMS equipment were on display this afternoon. The fire truck, made by Sutphen, cost $948,000. It is a tanker that holds 750 gallons of water.
The ceremony is a throwback to traditions that date back to before fire trucks.
“One of the traditions is when you get a new fire engine, you go ahead and wash it down with water from the fire engine that is going out of service to signify old going to new,” Salem Fire Chief Steve Simon said. “And then you go head and have the firefighters on that shift push that fire engine back in and signifying that they’re reliving what older firefighters and past generations would do.”
The truck is mostly a stock model with a few custom options the department identified as needed upgrades, including larger steps on the back and special compartments for EMS and other gear. The department was able to receive the truck in just a few months by staying close to the original specifications.
“This signifies, for the city of Salem, a major investment into their fire EMS department,” Simon said. “Over the years, some of our fire engines, since we run a lot of short calls, short distance calls, that puts a lot of wear and tear on these trucks. People might not think, ” Oh, it doesn’t have as many miles on it, but it’s going in a short distance at a very high rate. It does a lot maintenance issues over time.”
He said several trucks went out of service in the past year, prompting action.
“So what we had just in the last year, we had a lot of trucks that were going out of service,” Simon said. “So, the City Council, at the Fire Department’s request, reallocated existing funds. So these are no new funds. These were existing funds within the Fire department, and we did a strategic fleet plan, and these are going to go ahead and go into basically a new fire engine.”
The reallocation included $2.73 million in capital funds, $238,767.50 in Rescue Squad Assistance funding, and $21,000 from the Virginia Department of Fire Programs.
The station will also add Stryker patient loading systems, Zoll cardiac monitor-defibrillators, a swiftwater rescue boat and motor, and a firefighter PPE gear washer for Fire Station 2.
The department is expected to take possession of a second fire engine later in March.