Fire district opts to save money and refurbish truck

MILLERTON — The North East Fire District unveiled its refurbished 1991 GMC brush truck just one week ago. With only 12,000 miles on it, the company had to decide what the future of the vehicle would be.North East Fire District Commissioner Stephen Valyou was on the committee that made the decision.“The rear bumper was deteriorating. That was brought to our attention, and we formed the truck committee. The committee looked at the vehicle as a whole and saw that a lot of work needed to be done. We started pricing with other companies and found it would be well over $100,000 to replace it with a new truck,” he said.The rear bumper was rusting due to frequent wetness and the committee recognized it as a safety hazard.“The more we explored the more we were finding was needed to be done. It seemed a shame to just replace it though, since the mileage is so good,” Valyou said, adding that’s when the committee started to explore its options. “We started working with local vendors, including Sharon Auto Body. Roger over there was a huge asset. He went over the truck with a fine-tooth comb and worked with us to get everything on it done.”The truck body was taken off, sanded and repainted. The chassis was also sanded and repainted and the muffler and fuel tank were replaced.“Once the body came off and we looked at it there was no sense not to repair the truck,” said Valyou.Fire Chief Jason Watson was happy with the pricing.“We saved a good $75,000 of taxpayers’ money versus if we had just replaced it,” he said. “We need that vehicle in the fleet. It doesn’t get a whole lot of use but when you need it, it’s great to have it.”Watson explained the brush-truck is more versatile.“Now it has water and foam on it. It’s great for when you have to get off-road. It gets in places the big trucks can’t,” he said.The refurbishment also lifted the truck two inches higher.“The suspension was modified, bringing the truck up. It sat low before. Now we can put bigger tires on it, and it’s great for off-road,” Watson said.Both Valyou and Watson expressed their thanks to the local businesses who helped make the refurbishment possible.“Sharon Auto Body did abut 80 percent of the project. They were awesome to work with. We’re also really thankful to North East Muffler, Millerton NAPA, Herrington’s and Crane’s Outdoor Power Equipment in North Canaan, Conn. We wanted to keep this project as local as we could, and it was great to have everyone to work with so close to us,” said Valyou.Watson was also appreciative for the approval to move ahead with the project.“I’d like to thank to commissioners and the truck committee. Without their approval we wouldn’t have been able to do this,” he said.Valyou was confident that the project was the right option for the district.“We did the best we could with what we thought was right,” he said.With the GMC back in action, however, the district is now facing an issue with storage.“A lot of people wonder why they see the ambulance out front all the time. We just don’t have the room for it inside. We don’t want to put the GMC out there since we just did all this work on it,” said Valyou, adding the district is seeking extra storage space.“We have the 1968 FWD, which is an icon for Millerton. It’s topless, which was very rare in Dutchess County. It gets used a lot during parade season, but other than that it has to be stored inside since it doesn’t have a roof,” he said.The North East Fire District is seeking anyone with extra storage space, a spare bay in their garage or extra barn space to store non-essential items and vehicles.“If anyone is willing to help we’ll take what we can get. We’d like to get the vehicles indoors to prevent more wear and tear on them,” Valyou said.Anyone interested in storing items for the district can call the non-emergency phone number at 518-789-4645 and leave a message if there is no immediate answer.For more information on the Millerton Fire Company go to www.millertonfire.com.