Mayor Catherine Pugh has promised the Fire Department an extra $1.2 million firetruck in her 2020 fiscal year budget, the department said Thursday, after the firefighters union warned that two out-of-service trucks in Northwest Baltimore could affect response times.
Both of the out-of-service trucks have been repaired and placed back into service, and two new ones, purchased in fiscal years 2017 and 2018, are set to join the fleet next Friday, said Blair Skinner, a Fire Department spokeswoman.
A third truck, ordered in the 2019 fiscal year, is due to arrive in February and go into service a few months later, Skinner said.
Baltimore did not order any new firetrucks from 2009 until 2011, delaying the costs of updating its fleet, according to the Fire Department and the International Firefighters Association Local 734, the union representing rank-and-file firefighters and paramedics.