When the City of Durham made a commitment to be carbon neutral by 2040, many of the strategies, such as solar panels and electric cars, were obvious. Less clear was what to do about the city’s fleet of diesel-burning fire trucks. “This was the piece that our fleet management folks said would be the hard part,” said City Council member Javiera Caballero.
Caballero was speaking from the driver’s seat of an all-electric fire truck, one of only a handful in the world. The manufacturer, Rosenbauer America, brought it to Durham this week to demonstrate it for city officials and members of any other fire department in the region that wanted to see what the company calls the fire truck of the future. “To see this in action is incredible, and I’m really excited,” Caballero said. “And I think the city employees are, too, because this was the piece — you hope it’s coming but to know that it is coming is exciting.”