1941, March 19 – Council Votes to Buy New Fire Truck

The city council in a meeting Tuesday afternoon voted to authorize Mayor Crisp to sign a contract with the Central Fire Equipment Company of St. Louis for a new fire truck. The price of the equipment, exclusive of the chassis which is to be purchased by the council was $3,272. The truck, to be built along lines designed by the Marion fire department at the time the new hospital addition was annexed to city, will carry a 350 tank of water to combat small fires and fires which occur out of the reach of present fire hydrants. The truck will be equipped with a 500 gallon pump. The Central Company built the present fire truck used by Marion, and built the trucks now in use at Murphysboro and Carbondale. The new truck will replace the 25 year old truck which the city now calls into service only for emergency use. The old truck was accepted by the Central Company as part payment on the new truck. The allowance on the old truck was $350. It was valued at $150 by the Howe Company. The present No. 1 truck will remain in service. It is five years old. Purchase of the new equipment is to be financed over a three years period. With a slight rearrangement of interior construction at the fire department, Fire Chief Ing said both trucks can be kept in the fire station. At present the older of the two fire trucks is stored in a commercial garage. The new truck is expected to be delivered about July 1.

(Extracted from local newspapers and compiled by Harry Boyd, posted at http://www.marionfire.us )

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