By STU CLAMPITT
news@readthereporter.com
As of Saturday afternoon, White River Township Fire Department has a new engine in service and it’s not even close to red.
Engine 331 is a 2023 Ferrara truck carrying 1,000 gallons of water and four personnel in a distinctive blue-on-white color scheme.
Chief Garry Harling told The Reporter the color choice was about both branding and rural visibility. White River Township’s equipment is white with blue accents to represent the township name and the river itself.
“Out in this rural area we don’t have streetlights,” Harling said. “A red truck with flashing red lights gets hidden in the dark. Even though the red lights are flashing and the lights are on, it’s a hard thing to see. A white truck stands out. You’ll see it, you know it, you know that there’s a problem up ahead. It’s a safety factor for not only the crews but the people in the streets that are driving by.”
According to fireman Bracken Mefford, the onboard water capacity and the ability to hold a driver plus a three in the crew are important upgrades for White River’s public safety.
“We’re in a rural setting, so the thousand gallons of water is very important for us out here because when we’re flowing out the hoses, we can run through water a lot quicker,” Mefford said. “We can get there with just our three-man crew in this and get a good knockdown on the fire prior to having to have an additional tanker or engines arrive to feed us water. That just keeps us safe because our mutual aid could be 10 minutes away.”
Harling called this engine a heavy-duty rescue truck.
“That means that it responds with both airbags and heavy struts so we can secure any kind of vehicle accidents that we have,” Harling said. “It has a thousand gallons of water going out with a 1750 pump so we can get a good knockdown while we wait for the tanker to show up and it’s all brand-new equipment on board. It is a benefit for the community because it’s ready to go and completely safe.”
(From left) White River Township Trustee Jamie Rulon, Maggie Rulon, James Rulon, and Donna Gentry were kind enough to smile for The Reporter’s camera during the unveiling of the new fire engine. (Reporter photo by Stu Clampitt)
When bringing the new engine in service, community members turned out to ceremonially push the truck back into the garage, which Harling told the Reporter is a tradition dating back to the time of Ben Franklin, who started the nation’s first volunteer fire department, Union Fire Company in Philadelphia, Penn., in 1736.
The new engine carries BLS (Basic Life Support) equipment on board. The White River Township ambulance runs with ALS (Advanced Life Support).
“With both trucks together, if we have multiple patients, we can have the medical care for the most serious calls and we still have the equipment to maintain both trucks,” Harling said. “We moved from a volunteer organization to a combination career volunteer department. We now have three people on shift 24 hours a day, seven days a week. So we’re ready to respond.”