Eddington’s new fire truck arrives

EDDINGTON — A tired crew pulled into the Eddington fire station at 10 p.m. Wednesday in the cab of the town’s new fire engine.

Fire Chief Siegfried Wilking, Deputy Chief Arnold Grover, Lt. Gene Kelso and firefighter Shane Butler left Eddington at 4 a.m. Wednesday and drove to Middleboro, Mass., to pick up the new engine at the Res-Q-Tech Inc. firm in Middleboro, the New England distributor for the Central States Fire Apparatus Inc. of Lyons, S.D., makers of the firetruck.

The purchase of the new truck was approved by voters last year at the annual town meeting, said Town Manager Audrey Fox.

Deputy Chief Grover said the new truck would pump 1,250 gallons of water a minute and its tank would carry 1,000 gallons of water.

The 1992 International truck has a five-person cab and is powered by a diesel DT 466 engine.

The truck, which costs $127,800, said Grover, was purchased through a loan from Farmers Home Administration.

The new truck will replace a 1956 Seagraves truck which has been in service at Eddington since 1974.

Members of the Eddington Fire Department will hold training sessions with a representative from the Central States firm Friday, May 16, and Saturday, May 17, at the fire station.

The Eddington Fire Department has 25 volunteers, said Grover, and is equipped with a 1981 Emergency One pumper tanker with a 1,500-gallon tank, a 1976 Chevrolet rescue truck used as a first-responder to accidents, to stabilize patients until an ambulance can arrive, and a four-wheel-drive brush truck used for grass and woods fires. The truck also tows a trailer with a four-wheel ATV.