Mayor asks county about new fire truck
Posted on Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Jeff Della Rosa / Herald-Leader Lt. Stan Shelley of Siloam Springs Fire Department rubs a shine into a fire truck at Station 2 on Tuesday afternoon. Mayor M. L. “ Moose” Van Poucke asked when Benton County would buy a new fire truck for the city at a mayors meeting last week.
Mayor M. L. "Moose"Van Poucke didn't get the response he'd hoped for when he asked about Benton County buying the city a new fire truck.
He wanted to know when the county would add another truck to the city's fleet.
Van Poucke posed the question during the annual meeting of Benton County mayors Wednesday.
But the three trucks the county bought the city still run, and it buys one fire truck annually for the fire department that needs one the most, said Marshall Watson, director of the Benton County Department of Emergency Management, in a Thursday article in the Benton County Daily Record.
So the city likely won't receive a new truck from the county this year.
Nearly 25 percent of the city's fire and emergency medical service calls are in the county, Van Poucke said.
More importantly than receiving a new fire truck would be to receive county funding for the calls the city runs there, Fire Chief Jimmy Harris said.
The city also hopes to work out a deal with Oklahoma to pay for calls in the state.
The three fire trucks the county's purchased for the city are nearly 25, 15 and four years old.
The 1987 International tanker truck needs to be updated, Harris said.
"That's really all I need replaced," he said. "I'd like to get an automatic."
Some safety features on the truck are outdated.
The tanker, the 1993-model brush truck and the 2005-model pumper truck still run, Harris said.
The city chipped in $ 16, 000 for the pumper truck, which cost $ 165, 000, so it would have an extended cab and foam emitting capability.
The fire department needed an extended cab because it usually responds to fires with three- or four-man crews, Harris said.
He said he understands that the county maintains more than 20 other fire departments.
The county now purchases one new fire truck each year and takes requests from each fire department in the county for the new truck.
The Department of Emergency Management looks at each request and decides which fire department will receive the truck based on the need, according to the Thursday article.
Benton County, in two years, will likely buy 14 to 16 trucks once the county pays off the loan it took out to purchase new fire equipment five years ago.
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