Third time's the charm for Redfield; After a trio of unsuccessful attempts, fire department awarded grant for new truck

Redfield Fire Chief Gary Judd sits in the Redfield Fire Department's new pumper/tanker truck that was purchased with a FEMA Assistance to Fire Fighters Grant for $210,000. (Michael Pommier/Tribune)

REDFIELD -- The third time was the charm for the Redfield Fire Department in its quest for a new fire truck.

Redfield Fire Chief Gary Judd, who also served as the city's mayor and a township trustee, said the department had tried for the last three years to secure a grant to replace its 1976 Chevrolet fire truck. While the department felt it would be served just fine with the purchase of a used truck, Judd said their first two attempts were denied. Bourbon County Emergency Manager Keith Jeffers recommended on the third attempt they ask to buy a new truck, and by early May, the new vehicle was housed in the Redfield Fire Department's garage.

The 2009 Freightliner pumper/tanker truck cost a total of $210,000, of which 95 percent was paid for by a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Assistance to Fire Fighters Grant. The department was left to cover the remaining $10,500, which they had budgeted and saved for over the last three years.

According to Judd, the department was in desperate need of truck -- the vehicle it replaced had to be towed back to the station on its last call. Judd said the truck was "lucky to start" to make it to a house fire one block south of the station.

"Time was not on our side," Judd said. "We were in real desperate need of a new truck."

Judd said the department lucked out with the truck because it was a sales model at Midwest Fire in Springfield, Mo., and it was in stock. With a few minor modifications, the department only had to wait 30 days to get it. If the truck had been purchased elsewhere and built from a list of specifications, it would have taken anywhere from nine to 12 months, Judd said.

The new truck holds 22,000 gallons and pumps 1,250 gallons per minute, Judd added. The truck seats three people in the cab and is also equipped with a back-up camera. Judd said the only thing they wish they had was a little bit more storage for air tanks and other equipment.

"It's going to be a tremendous improvement over what we had," he said. "It's pretty close to what we wanted. It'll do everything we'll need it to do."

Judd said the department has had the truck for a little less than two months and has been lucky enough to not have to use it yet. He said the department averages one or two fire calls each month. He added not all of the firefighters have been trained on the new truck yet, however, everyone is pleased with it.

"Everybody on the department likes it," he said.

The Redfield Fire Department also purchased a brush truck about five years ago. It, too, replaced a 1976 model brush truck.