Waiting for the delivery of a new fire apparatus is a lot like waiting for a baby. You’ve wanted one for years, you’ve planned for months, perhaps years. You finally signed a contract and the process beings.

As the building gets underway, the manufacturer sends photos of the truck as it develops. They’re almost like ultrasounds. The early photos kind of look like a truck and as work continues over the weeks and months, the unit looks more like an apparatus and less like raw materials.

My fire department is weeks away from getting a new pumper. We signed the contract a little less than a year ago and everything is on track for delivery in May. As the delivery date for our “baby” approaches, we’ve started preparations for receiving it.

The final details

While all the big decisions have been made, like builder, engine, pump, tank size and a thousand other components, there remains some details that will give the apparatus personality and character. We're talking about lettering and striping, which will be done by our local dealer.

While some departments may have that detail worked out even before the contract has been signed, we decided to wait until essentially the last moment to figure out the best looking and safest configuration.

We’re also taking the time to figure out how we want to have our tools and appliances mounted in the truck. The truck we’ve ordered will have all of our equipment mounted on our pumper by the dealer. The apparatus will have commercially available tool mounting hardware installed on the back walls of most of the compartments.

At a recent training drill, a few firefighters took some time, looked at the compartment specifications for dimensions and physically mocked up content configurations using cardboard and markers to draw life-size layouts. The pump operator’s compartment on the driver’s side of the new pumper had hose adapters, and fittings all traced on to the cardboard giving an exact map and layout for the dealer to use as guidance. It also gives a very realistic perspective of how the tools and appliances will fit together and present themselves when the truck arrives. Of course you want your most-used fittings to be readily accessible. Those cardboard tracings will be sent to the dealer with the equipment to act as a template for tool mounting.

Perhaps we should have started the process earlier, maybe even before we met with our builder, to figure out how our equipment would fit into the new engine. Live and learn. But, with more than twice the compartment space available, we assume we’ll have no trouble fitting all the equipment our 25-year-old engine now carries.

Our chosen manufacturer is more than 350 miles from our station, so trips to see progress have not been possible, but photos have been tremendously helpful. We study them carefully to make sure our expectations and desires are reflected in the images the company sends to us. It would be a good practice for all fire departments to require routine periodic photos of the apparatus progress.

Because we are a distance from the plant, and because time is critical for everyone, we opted not to go to the factory for a pre-paint inspection. That's a time when critical changes can be made before the finish, colors and coating are applied. The photos showed us everything we needed and everything looked exactly as we thought it should.

Our firefighters can’t wait for each installment. Each time it looks more and more like a fire truck and the one we have dreamed about for years. It helps curb the excitement and anticipation, at least somewhat.

Better than the photos will be when we finally travel to the plant and look at the apparatus, for real. That will be better than any photos. It will also give us a chance to make sure the apparatus is built to our specifications and check for any flaws, not that we're expecting any.

Out with the old

As we prepare for the arrival of our new engine, we have to be mindful that we have an old engine that will need to be eliminated from the lineup. Engine 3 has served our community well for decades and, frankly, I’m going to miss the old girl. But, the fact is we’re going to have to get rid of the surplus apparatus.

In many cases, departments trade in their old apparatus to the builder of the new one. We didn’t do that, so we’ll be tasked with disposal of the 25-year-old pumper.

The last time we got rid of an engine, it was sold by word of mouth to a local dirt-race track owner who wanted to have some fire protection on his property as a precaution. He paid a whopping $2,500 for the engine. There were guys who wanted to take the big block Ford gasoline engine for a hot-rod engine, but we managed to sell it all in one unit.

Surrounding towns have literally put them on the side of the road with For Sale signs on them and basically sold them for scrap.

We don’t want to do that because we know our engine is solid and in excellent mechanical condition. It’s just old and no longer compliant to National Fire Protection Association guidelines.

So we’ve decide to list it with a national apparatus brokerage firm that thinks they might be able to get $25,000 for our old engine. It’s definitely something to think about long before the delivery date.

The process to list an apparatus with a broker isn’t difficult. Most have inventory-like sheets that need to be completed and they’ll want lots of photos. Our broker said they’ll take care of the rest…and collect a deserved check for services rendered.

We’re in the fortunate position of having a large station where we can put an extra engine for a while during the transition from the old to the new engine and during the marketing. We had to displace a county communication trailer, temporarily, but it gives us the flexibility of keeping the old engine inside, an important consideration, especially in freezing weather.

As the delivery date draws closer, we’ll have to plan for a celebration or some sort of dedication. It’s not every day our department gets a new engine or any new apparatus. So it would be like a baby shower, but without the gifts…and the shower being a wet down, perhaps.

We also need to come up with a way to say thank you to our community that shelled out nearly $500,000 for a new engine to protect a portion of our 4,500-person town. We’ll come up with something, I am sure. This apparatus is going to be in service with us for decades and we need to have people understand the magnitude of the investment.

We in Haverhill Corner await expectantly for the big delivery date for our new baby and we’ll be sure to take lots of photos, maybe for a new delivery feature in Firehouse.

In the meantime, anyone want to buy a good used engine?