Austintown buys new firetruck, replacing well-used 1978 model

By ELISE FRANCO

The township saved thousands by salvaging old equipment that was still in good condition.

AUSTINTOWN— For the first time since 1994, the Austintown Fire Department has bought a new firetruck.

Fire Chief Andrew Frost Jr. said the truck will replace a 1978 model as one of the full-time-use vehicles.

“Many of our first-line trucks have over 100,000 miles on them,” he said. “We are trying to phase those out and put them in our part-time stations.”

Assistant Chief Andrew Frost III said the new truck, bought from Sutphen Fire Trucks, of Columbus, brings the total number of large trucks in the department to nine.

Frost Jr. said the truck, which is part of the main fire station on state Route 46, cost $265,000, making it much cheaper than trucks purchased by many other area departments.

“We bought as plain a truck as we could because we’re using a lot of the equipment from the old truck,” he said. “It’s not a big frilly truck. It’s a tool we use to get a job done.”

Frost Jr. said most of the new truck’s equipment, including sirens, is from older models. It will be equipped with several new hoses.

“The siren is from the 1978 truck we replaced, and we took the hose reel from a 1964 truck and refurbished it,” he said.

Austintown Trustee David Ditzler said the township saved thousands of dollars by salvaging old equipment that was still in good condition instead of purchasing it new.

Not everything on the truck is hand-me-down, however, Frost Jr. said.

A $2,500 donation from Wal-Mart allowed for the purchase of new equipment, as well as yellow caution striping to be painted on the back of the truck and an American flag to be painted on the front grill, he said.

Ditzler said some other departments pay between $300,000 and $400,000 for a new truck.

“We shopped around trying to see if we could find a last year’s model that would save money,” he said.

“We did almost six to eight months of [searching] to come up with the best option for the township.”

Frost Jr. said without support from the township and trustees, his firefighters wouldn’t be taking calls in a new vehicle.

“We determined a need and put together a program for it,” he said. “All three trustees helped negotiate the deal — everyone was on board with it.”

Frost Jr. said at first they discussed buying two trucks, but realized it wasn’t financially possible.

“We were fortunate to get this one out of the budget this year because we didn’t think we’d be able to,” he said.

Ditzler agreed, saying the decision was made to replace the truck in poorer condition and wait five years to replace the next one, which was put into service in 1982.

“You couldn’t put the safety of the township at peril,” he said. “The one we replaced had a cracked frame.”

Ditzler said after the decision was made to buy the truck, steps were taken to make sure the township could afford it.

“We budgeted it into capital expenditures,” he said. “We put the first $60,000 down and borrowed the balance of the money.”

Ditzler said improving the equipment that Austintown safety services use can only be beneficial.

The truck “has the ability to put more water on a fire and put more strength to fighting fires,” he said. “It just gives us that much more of an opportunity to do a better job, quicker, and help save lives.”

efranco@vindy.com