VIDEO: For 25 years, one truck has been the first line of defense against fires in Monticello.
Engine 1 is a 1999 model fire truck. It was the last one bought by Monticello Fire Department Chief Eric Chisom’s father, the former chief. In 2024, any nostalgia for the look or feel cannot replace the most important part of a firefighter’s job: reliability. Chisom said something with the vehicle has always needed attention lately.
“The alternator actually went out when we were at a fire,” Chisom said. “While you’re pumping water with a truck and your alternator goes out, you look at the dials on your truck, now you can’t spray water.”
It’s no secret it’s showing its age. A quarter century is longer than some people protected by the fire department can remember.
“I wasn’t born then,” University of Arkansas at Monticello student T.J. Fields admitted.