Arlington's Fire Department will soon be rolling out two new emergency vehicles that officials hope will improve emergency response for the city.
A fire engine vehicle will replace a 16-year-old vehicle in the department and a fire ladder will replace a 20-year-old vehicle in the department.
The fire ladder is also a "quint" or a ladder vehicle with additional water pump and hose capabilities.
"That provides some versatility which will be a benefit for our community," said Bruce Stedman, Arlington's public safety director.
The older vehicles in the city's fire department were underpowered at times, said Stedman, and "didn't properly serve our community."
"For example, it could only travel 20 miles per hour up Highway 9," he said.
"Some of the hills we have in Arlington cause problems," said Deputy Fire Chief Tom Cooper. Those problems would slow down response time to some areas of the city, he said.
"I'm not saying we'll be able to do 55 [mph] up that [Highway 9] hill, but we'll be able to do better speeds than what we have been able to do," said Cooper.
Because of the age of the vehicles they were more expensive to maintain as well, said Stedman.
Parts were becoming difficult to obtain and "it was cost prohibitive to keep on maintaining them," said Cooper.
The time that the two older vehicles were being repaired continued to increase as well.
"There was a significant amount of time that it was out of service," said Stedman.
The district's two new vehicles are custom made for the city.
"We took a basic truck design and modified a couple of things," said Cooper.
"They were built to the needs of the community," said Stedman.