Altona/Rhineland Emergency Services is adding to its quick-response fleet of vehicles. 
    
A mini pumper truck is set to arrive next year, replacing the department's full-sized pumper which is nearing the end of its life. 

Carrying 4 fire fighters, the unit will be the second to leave the hall on a call after the quick-response foam truck. 

Fire chief, Greg Zimmerman, says inflation forced the department to re-examine its options for updating the fleet. 

"Prices went sky-high. We were prepared to buy a new truck, we just weren't prepared to pay the price they were asking," he said. "A pumper that used to cost three-eighty to four hundred thousand dollars, is now over a million."

A mock-up of the department's new mini pumperA mock-up of the department's new mini pumper

Because the department already has the quick-response foam truck, Zimmerman says a second quick-response unit would meet their needs and provide the same coverage.

"In fact, this mini pumper, even though it's a small truck, it has a bigger pump than the large pumper does. The large pumper has a 350 per gallon pump. The mini truck has a 1,250 per gallon pump. So, it's able to pump more water than our big pumper does, it'll just carry slightly less equipment. But the equipment we don't put on this truck, we can put on the foam truck."

The water storage unit on the mini pumper is less than the full-sized pumper, but Zimmerman isn't concerned. 

"Here again, remember that our foam truck is our first-out truck and its got a five hundred gallon tank. At the end of the day, the big truck arrived with 750 gallons of water and 6 members on board. Now, you'll get the two smaller trucks arriving first. You'll still have six members, and you'll have about 800 gallons of water, which actually will go farther because of the foam truck."

Built on a Ford 5-50 frame, Zimmerman says the mini pumper is also the department's first 4X4 unit, making it easier to get through a field or snow.