Cadott fire engine arrives and is ready for service

By Julia Wolf The Cadott Area Fire & Rescue got a new addition, recently. The department received their order for a new fire engine, a 2020 Spartan, with a Darley body and pump. It can pump 1,500 gallons per minute and also has a compressed air foam system. The fire engine also has a rescue body, which offers more storage, which makes accessing tools easier and safer for the firefighters. “It’s a really good meat and potatoes truck,” said Rick Sommerfeld, fire chief. “It’s got the stuff we need, but we didn’t go overboard on things.” Sommerfeld says the truck is very functional and the department is making good use of the space on the truck. He says Darley was good to work with and helped get the price down. Sommerfeld says when they first spec’d the vehicle, it was in the $525,000 range, and were able to get the cost down to the $455,000 or $460,000 range. Fundraiser money was also used to purchase a jaws of life cutter and a jaws of life spreader. Sommerfeld says about $35,000 of fundraiser money was put into the truck. He says they were able to save some money by using an inverter instead of a generator, since many tools are cordless and LED lights use less power. Sommerfeld says the new machine was needed, as the truck it replaced was getting old, roughly 23 years. He says the standard for first-out engines is 20 years or newer. “We’ve replaced a couple other trucks in the past few years, so we kind of had to stretch it out a little bit,” said Sommerfeld. Sommerfeld says the new engine will help with the ISO rating for insurance rates. The truck also has more safety features built into it than the previous fire engines did. “All in all, a much safer truck,” said Eric Luebstorf, firefighter, adding the rig has better interior and exterior lighting Ed Irish, firefighter, said the seating in the new vehicle allows the responders to get geared up, while in route, if necessary. He says that can be a big time saver. Formerly, one engine would be first out for fires and a different truck would be first out for car accidents. “This truck is first out for everything,” said Sommerfeld. “It has all of our extrication equipment on it.” He says the department is still able to respond to crashes with a second engine, if necessary, with additional extrication equipment. “We really like it,” said Sommerfeld. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="493"] The Cadott Area Fire & Rescue has a new fire engine, ready to respond to fires, accidents and other emergencies in the areas of Arther, Cadott, Goetz and Sigel. The engine replaces an older engine and includes more safety features and storage spaces. (Inset) The fire engine features a Hornets logo, a new addition, drawn by one of the firefighter’s daughters. Photo by Julia Wolf[/caption] [caption id="attachment_90640" align="alignnone" width="300"] The new fire engine offers storage areas around the truck. The extra storage areas make it easier and safer for firefighters to reach the tools they need. Photo by Julia Wolf[/caption]