The Oxford Fire Department received a brand new 2003 Ford E-450 Lifeline Rescue Truck Monday.
The new vehicle replaces the department’s 1995 modular rescue truck and will be housed at Station #2 on Drahner and Newman.
The two trucks are identical.
The rescue truck cost $100,000, but the department is scheduled to receive a $3,000 rebate, according to Fire Chief Jack LeRoy.
Funding for the rescue truck came from monies saved from the department’s operating budget over a number of years.
The old rescue truck will be sold for about $30,000, possibly to another local fire department, the chief said.
LeRoy said money from the sale will go right back into the department’s vehicle replacement fund.
When asked why the old rescue truck had to be replaced, LeRoy explained that after keeping such a vehicle for more than five years, it begins to “nickel and dime us” with maintenance and repair expenses.
“Rescue trucks go from sitting still to running full tilt,” LeRoy said. “That wears really hard on them.”
“They don’t get a lot of over-the-road miles because they mainly do short-distance hauls then go back in the bay,” he said. “It’s like putting a away a horse while its still wet.”
Rescue trucks are the department’s most frequently used vehicles given 69.3 percent of the runs are medical-related.