YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – One Ohio fire department is doing some spring cleaning of sorts, as it’s out with the old and in with the new for a major piece of equipment.
Climbing into the shiny red 1986 Sutphen/Gator pumper truck is like visiting an old friend for Austintown Fire Chief Andy Frost.
“This truck and I started the same year,” he said. “So, I’m ready to retire and it’s ready to retire.”
The vehicle was listed on Municibid. More than 100 bids led to a final total of $13,400 for the department. Frost said it cost about $110,000 brand new.
The sale eliminates equipment that no longer meets firefighting safety standards to make some room for new needed tools. Frost said they added a new pumper truck to their fleet in December 2022 and are looking to acquire some vehicles for medical services.
Some of the bells and whistles – or in this case, sirens – were removed to be kept as spare parts for the newer vehicles.
“That mechanical siren, which is the big siren everybody knows as a fire siren, that’s still made today and used,” he said, adding that a new one costs about $3,500.
The old truck lacks the technology of the newer vehicles.
“These are great old trucks,” he said. “Never gave us any problem. Maintenance was so low on these because they’re so simple. Nothing is electric, it’s all mechanical.”
Cameras and computers now help firefighters arrive safely and as quickly as possible.
The newer trucks also have seatbelts and a fully-enclosed cab. In the old truck’s heyday, Frost said firefighters would suit up on their way to an emergency.
“What happened is, firefighters would get dressed on the way to calls,” he said. “So they’d be standing here. Open air. Raining, winter, whatever.”
He said they’d also hang onto the back of the truck and ride tailboard.
“It would be freezing cold and it’d be the middle of the night, so we would get up and hang on,” Frost said. “And we would put that tarp over us, just trying to shield some of the weather from us.”
He said firefighting is a different job than it used to be.
“Everything’s changed,” Frost said. “Fires have changed. The risks to the guys have changed tremendously with all the synthetics and the carcinogens now.”
But with the changes come improvements.
“Our equipment fortunately gets better every year,” he said.
As he said good bye to his old friend.
“It’s time,” Frost said. “As much as we hate to see it go, it’s time.”
Frost said the department’s newest truck cost more than $500,000.
The group Mission of Love purchased the old 1986 truck.
