Fire department finds replacement truck online

Corinth Volunteer Fire Department members spent Friday getting their "new" Rescue truck ready for service. The department bought the purpose-built Pierce-made truck from an Ohio fire department as a replacement for a heavily-modified but virtually spent beverage truck that carried a lot of the department's safety and extrication gear. (Ledger photo / TIM GULLA) The Corinth Volunteer Fire Department had a big question to answer.

The old Corinth Rescue truck that carried all of its life-saving gear had seen better days. The motor was shot, the transmission was balky, and refurbishment of the 28-year-old vehicle, which ironically started its service life as a beverage truck, likely was going to exceed $25,000.

Ultimately, fire department officials found an answer in a somewhat unusual place — they turned to the Internet auction web site eBay.

The Pleasant Township, Ohio, Fire Department had exactly what the Corinth Fire Department was looking for — a purpose-built Rescue vehicle it no longer needed. It was advertised on eBay in excellent shape, it would fit nicely in the Corinth Fire Department's garage, and the color was a perfect match.

Though they missed an opportunity to submit an online bid, Corinth Fire Chief Nick Scates said the vehicle didn't fetch the initial asking price online, giving the Corinth Fire Department a chance to submit a sealed — albeit contingent — bid by mail. The contingency was that Corinth Fire Department reserved the right to cancel its bid if an inspection didn't pass muster.

Not only did the department's $45,199 bid win the sealed auction, however, Scates said the inspection showed the truck was in even better condition than expected.

"Either they didn't use it or they took excellent, great care of it," Scates said. "I actually was overwhelmed by the shape it was in."

The "new" Rescue truck is a 1991 Pierce, built specifically to haul fire department gear. Everything on the truck is original, including the lime green paint that perfectly matches the color of the other Corinth Fire Department trucks. Wear was extremely minor, too, limited to things such as some pulled stitches on a seat.

The Corinth Fire Department had been putting some money aside, knowing it's old Rescue truck wouldn't last too much longer. It was able to pay $15,000 up front and it took a $30,000 loan for the remainder. Scates said the loan term is for four years, but the Corinth Fire Department plans to pay the truck off within two years.

Anyway they looked at it, firefighters considered the purchase a bargain. A new purpose-built Rescue truck costs about $350,000 and Corinth's "new" truck was appraised by a dealership at between $80,000 and $100,000.

Firefighters traveled to Ohio on Wednesday to pick up the truck and brought it back Thursday evening. They spent all of Friday loading the truck with about $150,000 in fire department gear, from ropes and jacks to axes, hydraulic cutting tools, chain saws and even a refrigerator.

Since it was purposebuilt, the truck came with a lot of extra equipment needed by firefighters, including the equipment to fill firefighters' air tanks and a power generator big enough to light up a small industrial plant if power service is a problem.

About the only tasks remaining for firefighters on Friday afternoon were to peel off the Pleasant Township insignias and to put new decals on the truck designating it as Corinth's new "Rescue 51."

One thing isn't likely to change, however. Firefighters in Ohio placed the cartoon character "Yosemite Sam" on the back of the truck. The truck's old number, "Rescue 571" is written across the brim of Yosemite Sam's hat.

Scates said Corinth firefighters liked the character so much they decided to keep it.

The "new" truck, even with the old decals, was already in service in the Corinth community by Friday afternoon.