Firefighters gear up with new rig

A new fire engine rolled into Superior on Monday night.

By Tuesday morning, members of the Superior Fire Department were training with the new vehicle, checking gauges and pumping water.

The 2011 Pierce Velocity pumper engine should be in service at the East End fire station within a couple of weeks, according to Superior Fire Chief Jim Rigstad. He said the department saved money on the $380,000 engine by buying a demo unit with 6,000 miles on it.

Because the most common cause of wear and tear for department vehicles is salt, the new engine has an aluminum body. Money for the purchase came from the city’s Capital Improvement Budget.

The new engine has a 1,000-gallon tank and a 1,500-gallon permanent pump, the same Watrous model pump that is on other department engines.

The new rig will replace a 1997 engine, which will be placed in reserve status. The current reserve engine, a 1989 model, will be sold with the money going back to the reserve fund, Rigstad said.

The last time the department purchased a new engine was 2005.

“It would be nice to have them more often,” the fire chief said, so the department does not have to go through the expense of refurbishing them. Rigstad said engines need to be refurbished on average when they are about 15 years old and new regulations have increased the cost of the procedure.

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