Three new pumper trucks for the city of Pine Bluff Fire and Emergency Services Department have been ordered and could be completed as soon as September, Fire Chief Shauwn Howell announced Tuesday.
“The trucks are state of the art,” Mayor Carl A. Redus Jr. said in a press release, adding that new trucks would address a need to replace aging equipment. “Our firefighters will be safer and more professionally capable of doing their jobs.”
Funding for the new fire trucks comes from the five-eighths-cent city sales tax and associated bond issues approved by voters in February 2011, when voters also approved a three-eighths-cent county tax for economic development, bringing the total increase to 1 cent.
“Thanks to the citizens of Pine Bluff for passing the ‘Penny for Progress’ last February that provided a Five-Eighths Cent Sales Tax Initiative designating these dollars for new fire trucks under public safety. We are right on schedule with this purchase agreement,” Redus said.
Sunbelt Fire of Fairhope, Ala., has been awarded the contract, which totals $1,157,300 for the three custom-built E-ONE Class A Pumpers. Three companies competed for the project, with Sunbelt Fire submitting the lowest bid.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
The trucks will be manufactured by E-One Inc. of Ocala, Fla. Members of the Pine Bluff fire department will monitor pre-construction and perform a final inspection of the vehicles at the factory.
Each E-ONE cab is designed and built with a structural cage designed to provide maximum protection for firefighters. Howell said in the press release that firefighter safety was his No. 1 priority in selecting the model. Also, the new pumper trucks will decrease the cost of maintenance and allow for faster response times to fires and emergency calls.
With the addition of the new trucks, all but two of the department’s pumper trucks will have been replaced in recent years. Both ladder trucks have also been recently replaced.