The Regional District of Kootenaty Boundary (RDKB) is moving closer to replacing one of its fire engines in Trail.
A roughly one-year-old fire truck was damaged by sulphuric acid last spring and Regional Fire Chief Dan Derby is happy to see work starting on the replacement.
“They’re starting to build the body as we speak and we’re looking forward to having the replacement fire engine in service mid-fall, Octoberish,” he said.
The RDKB Board recently authorized $426,680.57 in borrowing from the Municipal Finance Authority to pay for a 2019 Spartan Gladiator Chassis and Pump. It will be paid for in installments as each part is built and will cost nearly $854,000 total to replace.
It will be very similar to the former truck.
“There’s a couple of tweaks. You don’t normally get a chance to do something like this again so I would call them just minor tweaks we were able to make with the builder, but for the most part, to look at the truck it would look identical,” explained Chief Derby.
The old truck was written off and a payout issued by ICBC. To accommodate the lost engine, some apparatus has been moved around. It is challenging at times, said Chief Derby, but they are able to get by.