The new 2019 Freightliner tanker arrived at Chelsea Area Fire Authority Station 1 and both full-time and Paid-On-Call firefighters received training on the new vehicle on Aug. 28.
The tanker will be housed in Station 2 on Jackson Road in Lima Township along with a new squad vehicle said Fire Chief Rob Arbini.
With its 2,000-gallon capacity, the vehicle has hose lines and can be used as an attack vehicle on a fire scene.
Arbini said the new vehicle replaces a vehicle that was retired about 1.5 years ago and this type of apparatus was chosen because the CAFA district has few fire hydrants.
“Only about 5 percent of the fire district has hydrants,” the chief said.
At a cost of about $350,000, the tanker has multi-uses the chief said, and will be used primarily to supplement the water supply on a fire scene.
Currently, the fire authority has 10 full-time and four Paid-On-Call firefighters and the chief said he hopes to be at the full compliment of 12 full-time firefighters this fall.
