Fire Chief Sam DiStasio: Truck should be ready for use by the middle or end of July
By: Lacey Korevec
By the end of the month, firefighting will be much more efficient in Cranbury.
The new, long awaited 2007 Pierce combination pumper and rescue truck is on its way to New Jersey for some final touches and should be ready for use by the Cranbury Volunteer Fire Company by the middle or end of July, Fire Chief Sam DiStasio said Monday.
Members of the volunteer fire company flew out to Appleton, Wis., in January to help design the $650,000 truck and then again in May to inspect its progress.
The new combination vehicle, which will replace a 1976 pumper truck and a 1985 ambulance, will be equipped with 830 gallons of water, 70 gallons of foam, a rear-mounted pump, a compressed air foam system and ladders, as well as rescue equipment, airbags and backboards.
Before it’s ready to fight fires, the company has to stock it with equipment, which will then be mounted in place. Chief DiStasio said the firefighters are excited to complete that process and welcome the new truck.
"It’s right around the corner," he said. "We’re getting a little more psyched about it now that we know it’s on its way and closer to being put in service so that we can use it," he said.
The fire company and the township will pay for the new truck over the next 10 years through a Middlesex County Improvement Authority capital equipment lease program. Chief DiStasio said the new truck will allow the firefighters to combine the functions of their old pumper truck and ambulance into one, making their service to the community more efficient.
"We kind of need it real bad," he said. "The new vehicle is going to be much safer and better for the manpower and for the company and, as probably everybody knows, when you get old vehicles, getting them serviced is always a hassle. When the trucks become older it’s tougher to get them serviced and to get the parts that you need to repair them."
The company is still planning to donate its 1976 pumper truck to a fire company whose rescue vehicles were damaged during Hurricane Katrina, but no specific plans have been made yet, Chief DiStasio said Monday.
"Unfortunately, it’s taking a little bit longer than I thought, but I’m still talking with different associations down in the New Orleans-Mississippi area and we’re still hoping the truck can go down to a fire company in need down there," he said. "There’s a lot of places that had a lot of equipment that got completely wiped out and lost a lot of things, so it’s nice to be able to help a fellow fire company kind of get back on their feet again."

