The Wilmington Fire Department showed off its new pumper truck at a Roll-In Ceremony on Tuesday.
The new fire truck has already been in service for about a month, but Tuesday’s event gave firefighters the opportunity to ceremoniously roll out their old truck and roll in the new one.
The new fire engine features two-way hands free communications, a 500 gallon water tank, and a 20 gallon foam tank. The 2015 Pierce Velocity Pumper cost $570,000 for the apparatus and $30,000 for the equipment.
WFD Battalion Chief David Hines said that although the old truck was not a bad truck, it was nearing 15 years old.
“We have to rotate the fleet, continue to get new trucks in,” Hines said. “If we don’t, we would be in a situation where all of our equipment would be old and be breaking down on us on a regular basis, so that’s the reason why you try to keep rotating them out.”
The new fire truck will be assigned to Fire Headquarters.