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Green says county in need of new fire engine
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GREEN
According to DeKalb County Fire Chief Donny Green, the county fire department is overdue for a new pumper truck.Green spoke before the all-committees meeting of the county commission Thursday night.Green previously brought the matter before the budget committee last year, telling county officials that the 1975 vintage pumper at the Austin Bottom station is rapidly becoming a money pit, and is just too old to be reliable.Green requested last summer that the budget committee approve $180,000 to purchase a new pumper truck to replace the 1979 model truck at the Midway station.The funds were not included in the budget for this year but he was told that the issue could be brought up again later.“At the beginning of the last budget year we had talked about how we were up on our replacement schedule to get a truck at Midway,” Green said Thursday night. “At that time I was asked to wait until after the first of the year to look at revenues to see where we were at.”If funding is approved, the truck from Midway would be moved to the Austin Bottom station to replace the ailing 1975 model truck there.“The truck that we have at Austin Bottom is the last of the 1975 model trucks that we built years ago,” Green shared, “We got it in under the radar last year on the pump test when ISO was here.“The pump test is coming up again in June of this year, and I am pretty confident that we can't stretch that truck.“The goal was to move the one from Midway over there (to Austin Bottom) and replace the one at Midway.”According to the chief, the Midway station is “one of the original four stations that were built when the fire department was started in 1975, and they still haven't ever got a (new) truck.” Green said.The fire chief said the 1979 model truck should be adequate to serve the Austin Bottom community for several years.Green also recommended that demo models be priced in the search for a new engine.“We have bought a couple of demos in the past,” he shared.