by Dennis Dalman
When the new Public Safety Facility hosts its grand opening in 2020, there will be more than just a brand-new state-of-the art building to wow the visitors.
One of the stars of the show will be a spanking-new fire-department platform truck.
The Sartell City Council, at its April 22 meeting, approved the purchase of the truck, which will cost up to $1,117,000. Money for the truck will come from the city’s Fire Equipment Fund, said Sartell City Administrator Mary Degiovanni.
Ground has been broken for the eagerly-awaited Sartell Public Works Facility along Pinecone Road. It will be the new home for both the city’s fire department and its police department.
The platform truck is expected to be delivered to the city by December 2020. The technical name of the giant machine is an “E-One Cyclone III HP100 Aerial Platform Fire Truck.” Its manufacturer is Fire Safety U.S.A., Inc. of Rochester.
A platform truck, which carries a retractable long hydraulic extension arm with a bucket, is vital in some rescue emergencies and in fighting fires in homes or buildings that are tall. That has concerned the members of the Sartell City Council for years as buildings and apartment complexes in the city began to be built taller and taller, some as high as four stories. The new platform truck will replace one of the current ladder trucks, which means the city won’t have to replace a ladder truck with another ladder truck.
The council voted unanimously to approve the purchase of the truck.
This is a platform truck, similar to the one the Sartell Fire Department will have come December 2020.
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