Councillors check out fire department's new tanker/pumper truck

The township’s new fire truck arrived  last week just in time for Mapleton council to check out its bells and whistles.

Councillors took the opportunity after the July 26 meeting to look at the shiny red truck, which replaces a pumper truck and a tanker truck.

Council approved the purchase of the new tanker/pumper to replace the aging 1987 pumper and 1992 tanker at the Drayton station.

Both were deemed surplus to sell on GovDeals.ca, an online government surplus auction website, for a minimum price of $30,000.

But Mapleton Fire Chief Rick Richardson told council that after reviewing fire calls, some of the firefighters asked to keep the old tanker.

“The question came up  - ‘is there an option for us to keep the old tanker because it does still provide water to the scene?’” Richardson said.

“Getting additional water to some of these bigger fires is never a bad thing.”

Councillor Dennis Craven said he supported the motion because the additional vehicle would be available to volunteer firefighters who arrive at the fire hall after the first trucks leave. It would also discourage firefighters from using their own vehicles to get to the scene. However, keeping the tanker means losing the revenue from the auction sale.

“Were we counting on the revenue, like the $20,000 in the 2016 budget?” asked councillor Michael Martin.

Richardson replied, “Yes, in the 2016 budget I did a 10-year forecast ... (we) had the $250,000 for the new tanker … and we also had $30,000 for two vehicles that we would be taking to auction potentially.”

He added that if the fire department keeps the tanker, it would just be “getting $20,000 less toward the next truck.”

Council unanimously approved keeping the tanker and deeming the pumper surplus.

“So do we get to go try the sirens and stuff?” joked Mayor Neil Driscoll.