The new fleet consist of 28 units: 19 fire engines, 5 ladder trucks, one hazardous material response unit, one heavy rescue unit, one air and light resource unit and one 2500 gallon water tanker truck. The same company, Pierce Manufacturing of Appleton, Wisconsin, made all the trucks. Total cost of the new trucks was nearly $11 million dollars; the funds were made available by the Fire Safety Initiative passed by city voters in 2000.
The trucks are unique in that all of them are basically the same. Previously, the department used four different brands of fire trucks making it difficult to keep spare parts on hand and operators had to learn how to operate all four brands. Now every truck is identical, equipment is placed in the exact same place on each rig and the fire maintenance shop can keep spare parts on hand that can be used by any of the trucks.
Some of the new trucks are unique. Two are 100-foot aerial ladder trucks, which has a driver on the front and back of the truck. The
