After multiple manufacturing delays due to COVID-19, the Lyndeborough Fire Department has its new Freightliner tanker in the firehouse, two years after it was first approved at Town Meeting.
The custom-built truck is a major upgrade with several features especially useful for a department that is responding to rural areas where there may not be immediate access to water sources, firefighter Devin McEntee said Tuesday.
“Out here in rural Lyndeborough, that’s helpful, because unlike Wilton or some other neighboring towns, we don’t have hydrants,” McEntee explained.
The truck carries 2,300 gallons of water, and while it’s a tanker meant primarily for hauling water, it also includes a pump and hose like the main fire engines, as well as a portable tank that can be deployed on site and hold an additional 2,500 gallons, and lights for when its deployed to a nighttime scene.
While the funds for the truck were approved in 2019, when the company’s previous 1984 tanker was ready to be decommissioned due to age, it was only delivered to the department two weeks ago. Because of the undersized nature of the Lyndeborough Fire Department, the truck had to be custom-built, and the manufacture of the chassis was delayed due to COVID-19, McEntee said.
The truck has already been added to Lyndeborough’s lineup, and has responded to brush fires in Lyndeborough and New Ipswich.
“It will be serving us well for the next 25 to 30 years,” McEntee said.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.