The new pumper/tanker at the RM of Buckland Fire Hall. (Ian Gustafson/paNOW Staff)

By Ian Gustafson

Time For an Upgrade

Buckland Fire and Rescue unveil new tanker/pumper

Sep 29, 2019 | 1:56 PM

Buckland Fire and Rescue unveiled their brand-new tanker and pumper truck on Saturday afternoon.

The new truck does everything a standard fire truck can do but Buckland Fire Department fire Chief Gary Schrader said the new truck has a 10-inch pump valve on the back and can hold 1,500 gallons of water. A normal fire truck can only hold 700.

The tanker’s main purpose will be to dump water into the dump tank on scene and another truck will pump water out of the dump tank while the new tanker goes and retrieves more water.

Valve on the back of truck that can dump 1500 gallons of water in three – four minutes. (Ian Gustafson/paNOW Staff)

Schrader said the new truck is replacing an one they got rid of a year ago as it no longer passed inspections.

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“It was time for it to go and our board of directors said we should get a new one and it was great they agreed to it,” he said.

The truck came in from Winnipeg and the process of getting it here took about two years.

“Myself and the firefighters all sat down and said, ‘what do we want in a fire truck what are we going to need in a truck,’” Schrader said.

He said they all decided they wanted a mid-ship pump, which means the pump is outside whereas their other truck has a cab covered pump.

“This way we can get more water on it but it’s a matter of all the firefighters getting together and designing this truck,” Schrader said.

The water capacity is priority number one Schrader said in the RM of Buckland because there are no fire hydrants.

“We just needed something extra in case we have two calls at a time,” he said.

Schrader said the truck costed them around $350,000.

“The thing people don’t realize is we’re not an RM fire department the RM has nothing to do with us they pay us a retainer every year to look after the RM of Buckland,” he said. “So are money that comes in is from the people in Buckland they buy a membership from us and if they have a fire at their place we go, and it doesn’t cost them anything.”

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Ian.Gustafson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @IanGustafson12