By BILL LEUKHARDT | The Hartford Courant
May 16, 2009
A new $818,000 combination aerial, ladder and pumper was delivered Thursday to the fire department and is now in at Station 3 in Elmwood. (WEST HARTFORD FIRE DEPARTMENT / May 14, 2009)
WEST HARTFORD — - What is probably the most expensive vehicle in town — a new $818,000 combination aerial, ladder and pumper — is now at the fire department's Station 3 in Elmwood.
Firefighters inspected the new "quint" apparatus Thursday morning after it was driven to the town hall complex parking lot on Raymond Road from the Lancaster, Pa., factory where it had been built to town specifications.
"It has five functions. It's a ladder, water, pumper, aerial and hose," Gary S. Allyn, the town's assistant fire chief, said of the apparatus made by Crimson Aerial. "It's our third quint. It replaces a 19-year-old quint that we sold to a buyer in Montana."
That older apparatus was bought for $175,000 by a resort. The money was used toward the purchase of the new piece. Christopher Johnson, the town finance director, said that the town sold bonds to finance the balance of the purchase. The bonds will be paid over 10 years. The new vehicle might last 20 years.
Quints, invented 80 years ago, became popular in the 1990s with budget-challenged towns and cities attracted by the single vehicle that could function as both a ladder truck and a pumper.
Several town purchasing department employees had a quick ride skyward Thursday during tests of the quint's 100-foot aerial ladder. Johnson declined to join.
"Two stories up is my limit," he said later.
After testing, the bright-red quint was driven to the Elmwood station on New Britain Avenue. Firefighters will outfit it with department equipment and train to use it. The quint will go into service in about a month, Allyn said.
