Greenville seeks funds for aging fire tanker

GREENVILLE – “Rust and smoke, the heater’s broke, the door just blew away; I light a match to see the dash and then I start to pray; the frame is bent, the muffler went, the radio it’s OK, oh what fun it is to drive this rusty Chevrolet.”

The lyrics from the song “Rusty Chevrolet” by Da Yoopers, a comical garage band, could easily apply to the Greenville Fire Department’s tanker.

The handmade tanker, which was cobbled together from parts of a 1950 oil truck and a 1989 milk truck, has caught fire twice, loses its lights on big bumps in the road, can easily be tipped over if an unseasoned driver is behind the wheel and the water tank leaks.

“It would be a good ride for the fair but it’s no way to ride to a fire,” Greenville Town Manager and firefighter John Simko said Tuesday.

For firefighters, who have to travel in a vehicle that has so many problems, it’s far from humorous. Since the nearest fire department of similar size is 26 miles away, they keep their fingers crossed that the tanker makes it to the fire scene in one piece.

While the department has five other firetrucks, the old tanker is the only means to haul a large amount of water to a structure fire, Simko said. It is also used when the town responds to a mutual aid request from other communities.

“It’s a very unsafe vehicle,” Simko said.

Town officials, who would like nothing more than to replace the aged vehicle, have made four unsuccessful attempts to secure an Assistance to Firefighters Grant through the federal Department of Homeland Security. Unwilling to give up, they are applying once again for a $200,000 grant.

Simko said firefighters have been on calls at night when the truck has lost all of its lights after hitting a bad bump. The driver has to shift down and stop the vehicle, crawl under the dash and fix the problem before continuing on to the fire, he said.

Nor is it amusing to find the truck itself on fire because of an electrical short, one of which occurred during the local Fourth of July parade.

The truck’s problems are numerous, according to Simko. The tanker has no pumping capacity so the water has to be drained from it or dumped out. The metal tank has degraded to the point there are pin holes which leak water and the water in the tank, which holds a little more than 3,000 gallons, sloshes around if not full making the vehicle very susceptible to tipping, he said.

The need for a replacement is so critical at this point that residents at the annual June town meeting will be asked to borrow the funds to purchase a replacement tanker, should the grant not be funded. The grant awards will be announced in August or September. If the town receives the grant, the loan will not be authorized, Simko said.

Town officials also are seeking a second grant of $45,000 for operating and safety equipment that would include an industrial washer and dryer for turnout gear, a Personal Alarm Safety System, 14 air pack bottles and portable radios. It is however, the application to replace the tanker that has firefighters crossing their fingers.

Simko said he thinks the need for the tanker is so great that if other firefighters in the region were grading the applications, the town would quickly get the funds.

“I’m hopeful it will pan out,” he said of this year’s funding request.

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