For the first time in 25 years, the Price City Fire Department has a new fire truck.
Chief Fitzgerald Petersen stressed the need for a new engine during a special city council meeting on Nov. 30. One of the department's two trucks has been around for three decades and is currently out of commission.
"The 30-year-old needs the engine rebuilt. It's got some pump challenges as well. So we got into a situation where we needed to start looking for an engine to replace that," Petersen said.
While still in use, the other engine is 27 years old. The mayor anticipates that it may not be much longer before it needs work too.
"I can't tell you how much stress I was under, knowing that one of them needed that kind of repair," Petersen said.
Price City Fire is one of five fire departments in Carbon County and serves roughly 9,000 citizens. They also help other departments when needed.
“Some of the other cities like Helper, and Wellington, we certainly back them up, which we do in every jurisdiction, that gives them the opportunity to keep everybody as safe as possible," the chief said.
The city council approved the purchase of a $595,000 truck with 5,000 miles on it. As Petersen explains, the Rosenbauer model truck was shown to departments around the state and it was available for them to buy. The typical process to obtain a new truck could have taken up to four years and come with a $1,000,000 price tag.
The vendor also required the city to make a decision by Dec. 1 or risk another fire department purchasing it.
Price City Mayor Mike Kourianos said it wasn’t easy convincing the city council of how dire the situation was. In the end, the city was able to finance the truck which is something they typically wouldn't do.
“Traditionally you try to find a grant and then you go to the community impact board and ask for money also. That lessens the amount of money that you're financing."
Overall, Petersen said the new engine may not have an impact on response times, which varies depending on the time of the incident and the availability of the volunteer staff.
"Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. is much different than Saturday night at 3 in the morning. So our response times vary within what we would expect them to be."
According to the National Fire Protection and Association, standard response times in rural areas is 14 minutes.
The Price City Fire Department took possession of the new pumper truck on Dec. 30, 2022.
