The Henderson Fire Department’s most recent purchase was officially recognized Friday afternoon during a “push-in” ceremony at Fire Station 1 on Dabney Drive. The shiny new Fire Engine 1 was ceremoniously backed into its bay, ready to go out on its first call.
During remarks at the 1 p.m. gathering, Fire Chief Tim Twisdale pointed out that there’s a memorial on the back door of the truck to remind firefighters and anyone else who sees it about the former fire chief, the late Steve Cordell.
The purchase was initiated by Cordell in September 2022. “We remember him as we put it officially in service,” Twisdale said.
It takes that long to get a truck like this one built, Twisdale said. “It’s a pretty big deal when we get to make a purchase like that. It should last for 20 years or more and the chief predicted that it would respond to 2,000 calls a year.
Audio of Chief Twisdale. Click Play!
The price tag? A staggering $763,000. But if he were to order the same thing today, that number would be somewhere around the $1 million mark.
“It’s a custom truck,” he said. “It’s built piece by piece from the frame rails to the lights and the final touches and polished pieces.”
Battalion Chiefs Lee Edmonds, Kyle Holtzman and Engineer Chase Carter put in a lot of hours researching the various components to make sure this truck would be equipped with the very best tools to make it the most efficient it can be.
“This one is built from the ground up,” Twisdale said. One component is the pump, which can handle 2,000 gallons, a capacity that helps the fire department keep its ISO rating of 2 – it all has to do with bringing people and water to a fire emergency within a certain amount of time.
This truck’s primary job “will be to respond to fires and emergency medical calls in the center of the city,” he said.
Twisdale said having this new truck added to the fleet will enable the city to be ready to house fire engines in a new station, if and when construction begins.
“We strive to stretch the dollars that we do receive as far as we can,” Twisdale said.
