Fire truck repaired, now back in service

GENTRY — Gentry Fire Department’s Engine No. 2232 is back in service following engine repair by United Engines in Tulsa, Okla.

Cost for the repairs to the city’s large hook-and-ladder truck was $21,296.40. The repairs were approved by the Gentry City Council at a special meeting on April 18.

Money for the repairs will come from unused money - approximately $165,000- budgeted to pay off the additions to the Gentry Fire Station completed in 2008. The loan on the fire station improvements was paid off early, using approximately $150,000 of the $185,000 gift given to the city for the fire department by American Electric Power/ Southwestern Electric Power Company. Another $30,000 of that money was used to buy and outfit a new pickup truck for the fire department as a part of a rotation plan to re-place the current medical response truck and to buy a riding lawn mower and equipment so that parttime firefighters can mow some city-owned properties and reduce the amount the city must pay for lawn services.

Early payoff of the fire station loan also resulted in savings to the city of approximately $15,000 in interest.

The engine repair included replacing the engine head which had cracked and completely rebuilding the remainder of the engine. The engine, according to Mayor Kevin Johnston, is an 8-cylinder diesel rather than a 6-cylinder inline diesel as discussed in the council meeting.

Mayor Johnston was not driving the engine to a house fire when it quit, as was reported in the April 25 issue, but he came up on the broken down truck when out on city business and learned from assistant chief Jeff Trammel that the truck’s engine had lost power and quit.

The fire department’s new pickup truck arrived last week and is being outfitted for service. A new patrol car also arrived, according to Johnston.