Local fire department receives 2 new engines

The Bloomington Fire Department has two brand new fire engines serving the city. The new fire engines are stationed at Fire Station No. 4, 2201 E. Third St. and Fire Station No. 5, 1987 S. Henderson St.\nBFD Chief Jeff Barlow said the new fire engines were necessary to give increased reliability to the existing fleet. \n"We try to keep the apparatus at a reasonable life cycle," Barlow said. "These allow two front line units to go to reserve status."\nThe new fire engines were selected by a committee of five members of the BFD, including Barlow, who also designed the specifications for each new engine.\nEach fire engine can hold up to 750 gallons of water, 60 gallons of foam and has a pumping capacity of 2,000 gallons per minute. Other features include a fully enclosed cab and a six kilowatt generator that powers a quartz emergency light.\nBids for constructing the new engines were received in May 2002, and the new engines, built by American LaFrance, were put into service last September, said Ron Bateman, BFD firefighter/engineer. \n"The plans for the engines started from scratch," Bateman said. "We wrote the specifications as generic as possible so companies could bid."\nThe city of Bloomington purchased one of the engines at a cost of $384,882, and Salt Creek Township purchased the second for slightly less in exchange for the BFD providing five years of fire protection that ends Dec. 31, 2007. \nThe new equipment is part of the Fire Improvement Plan implemented under former Bloomington Mayor John Fernandez. Barlow said the Improvement Plan, started in 1999, was to identify problems and improve the BFD over five years. As a result, the city has seen the addition of a new station on the west side, new brush and pumper/ladder trucks and 18 new personnel. \nCommittee member and firefighter/engineer Matt Brinegar said it was time for the BFD get new equipment. \n"The number one factor is we just needed new engines -- period. Others in the fleet were getting older. We were in need of new trucks," Brinegar said. \nBarlo said the new fire engine stationed at fire station No. 4 will serve the campus should the occasion arise. Barlow said station No. 4 is one of the primary stations that respond to campus calls.\n"The committee wanted to purchase the best apparatus to protect our firefighters and the community," Barlow said. "And that is exactly what we have with these two new fire engines"