Mount Vernon News

CENTERBURG — The Central Ohio Joint Fire District fire board has authorized the purchase of a new fire engine, with the contract going to the Sutphen Co. of Amblin near Columbus.

Delivery is expected the middle of February. The $325,773.61 engine will replace a 1983 engine used by the department.

Fire Chief Joe Porter said the engine will have a couple of innovations for the safety and efficiency of firefighters. The water pump operator works on one side of the engine, but doesn’t know what is happening on the other side. A video camera has been installed on the blind side, with a monitor mounted in front of the operator, allowing him or her to see activity on the other side of the engine.

Another innovation is a light tower mounted on top of the cab, which reaches about 20 feet above the ground. A video camera can also be mounted on the tower, but Porter said a decision had not yet been made to purchase the camera.

In addition, the foam system is now mounted completly inside the engine, with two tanks for different kinds of foam. One type of foam is to fight house fires, the other to fight petroleum fires.

The cab is designed for four firefighters; one seat faces forward, the other backward. Between the two seats is a medical cabinet with heart monitors. The front bumper has also been extended to hold a hose compartment.

The truck will contain a 1,000-gallon water tank and a 1,500-gallon-per-minute water pump, both of which are standard.

Sutphen builds its own fire truck chassis, and in this truck, mounts a 370-horsepower Cummins diesel engine running through a six-speed Allison automatic transmission. The top speed is limited to 65 mph.