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Some passing clouds. Low 58F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph..
Some passing clouds. Low 58F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph.
The Watertown City Fire Department’s former heavy rescue truck at the Emma Flower Taylor Fire Station on South Massey Street. Kara Dry/Watertown Daily Times
The Watertown City Fire Department’s former heavy rescue truck at the Emma Flower Taylor Fire Station on South Massey Street. Kara Dry/Watertown Daily Times
WATERTOWN — A city Fire Department rescue truck could be going back on emergency calls soon.
City Councilor Lisa A. Ruggiero will introduce a resolution on Tuesday night to reestablish the rescue truck with some newly purchased equipment that would be placed on a department utility vehicle, a Ford F-550, at the Emma Flower Taylor Fire Station on South Massey Street.
The proposed return of the rescue truck is prompted by an Arsenal Street crash that trapped a man underneath a vehicle dashboard for 16 minutes in October.
Firefighters needed to wait that long before the Town of Watertown Fire Department brought the Jaws of Life to the scene and got the 18-year-old man out.
In a cost-saving move, the department’s heavy rescue truck was taken off the road in January 2021 after a vote by the previous City Council.
Councilor Ruggiero has spoken to Fire Chief Matthew R. Timerman about the need for the rescue truck.
“I think it will make the best use of personnel,” she said.
According to the councilor, the newly formed rescue truck would go on “critical calls” for heart attack and stroke victims. It also would go out as a second emergency medical vehicle when a fire engine is already responding to a call, she said.
After the rescue truck was mothballed a year ago, two firefighters were reassigned to the ladder truck, resulting in five riding on the aerial truck.
At times, an engine with three firefighters responds to emergency calls with the five on the ladder truck. All eight firefighters are often not needed.
Chief Timerman said the rescue truck would give the department better options.
“It will allocate the right personnel with the right equipment on the right calls,” he said.
The city Fire Department lost the use of the equipment needed — hydraulic rams and other tools and equipment — at emergency scenes after the heavy rescue truck was discontinued.
The department is purchasing hydraulic and other battery-powered fire equipment. The department is also adding a battery-powered cutter, spreader and hydraulic telescopic ram.
That equipment was needed at the site of the Oct. 14 crash. All of it would fit on the Ford pickup, but it cannot fit on fire engines.
Responding bids for the equipment were opened Wednesday. It will take at least a few weeks to purchase the equipment and set up the utility vehicle.
If approved, Councilor Ruggiero hopes the rescue truck will be ready for the road by March 31.
The City Council is expected to vote Tuesday night on the resolution. It needs three votes to pass.
The city budget has $40,000 to pay for the new equipment. The heavy rescue truck was sold for $25,900 in a public auction and was purchased by a used auto company in Oriskany.
But the sale of the heavy rescue truck and the subsequent need to purchase new equipment has cost the city money, Councilor Ruggiero said.
Four Fort Drum soldiers were credited with helping pull three teenagers from the violent crash, which involved a Dodge pickup truck and a Dodge Durango.
The pickup was so mangled the soldiers didn’t realize a fourth person was trapped until one of the victims yelled out asking whether they were able to free him.
The four crash victims have since recovered from their injuries.
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It never should have been removed!
SPEND SPEND SPEND, thats all these people do
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