Fair Haven Fire Truck
By Ryan Fennell
Two River Times
The Week of July 17 – 24, 2008
Fair Haven – On Monday night, Deputy Fire Chief Shawn Foley and Assistant Deputy Jim Cerruti presented the Borough of Fair Haven with a brand new, custom-made fire truck that will be the first responder on all fire calls in Fair Haven.
The custom-built truck is the first new fire engine in Fair Haven in 27 years. It will be replacing Fair Haven’s 1954 engine and as a dedication to the “retired” engine, the image of the 1954 engine is painted onto both sides of the new truck’s cab.
“A lot of work went into this truck with a lot of man hours,” Cerruti said. “What you’ve got here is a state-of-the-art truck that is made for this town.”
The process of acquiring the new fire engine began three years ago with the creation of a committee to put together a fire truck that would best serve Fair Haven. According to Cerruti the committee has spent countless hours over the last three years deciding on what equipment was necessary for the truck and finding ways to tweak the new engine in order for it to be fully customized to serve the Borough of Fair Haven.
“We are very proud of this truck and all of our equipment,” Cerruti said. “If you take a look at anything we have we work very hard to maintain it.”
Cerruti said that the Fire Department will continue to add equipment to the truck as it sees fit, often spending money from the department’s own funds.
“It has to be a custom truck because as a volunteer squad you don’t know who you’re going to get at two o’clock in the morning or two o’clock in the afternoon.”
The new truck is considered to be a ‘quad’ because it provides firefighters with ladders, hoses, pumps, and water tanks.
“It’s a huge addition,” Committeeman Christopher Rinn said. “It bolsters our response capabilities and bolsters the abilities of our Fire Department to do their job. It gives them a really significant set of tools to do their job.”
According to Cerruti, the committee formed to acquire the new truck asked for $600,000 in order to build one that best suited Fair Haven. The total cost came in under that number at $586,000.
“It gives the members of a very capable volunteer Fire Company the ability to fight just about any fire there is here in Fair Haven, and they do it, and they do it well,” Rinn said.