News

New wheels arrive at Center firehouse


Fire Commissioner Rich Surozenski fills the 750 gallon tank on the Fire Department’s new truck. David Horton of Firematic in Yaphank, where the vehicle was customized, drove the new attack truck to Shelter Island.


Word spread quickly when a new fire truck arrived on the Island last Friday, and firefighters were drawn to the Center station like bees to honey.

A sweet ride, no doubt, but more importantly, the 2010 Class A Ford truck is a multi-purpose fire-fighting machine.

“It’s more than a dual purpose truck,” Fire Chief William Rowland said at the scene. It’s designed as an attack truck that is small enough to get down most any driveway. It can also draft water from the bay, through an intake on its front end.

“We wanted the whole thing completely outfitted,” Chief Rowland said. Customized with safety equipment, pumps and more by Firematic of Yaphank, the vehicle was built on a specialized Ford chassis called a B.R.A.T. (for brush rapid attack truck) with a Cummins diesel engine and an Allison transmission. A special 4-wheel-drive conversion completes the package.

“I think this is going to be the truck of the future,” the chief added.

The truck has a water tank that holds 750 gallons. It can drive right onto the beach to draft, something the district’s big Pierce trucks, with dual rear wheels, can’t do. The driver can even deflate the tires for beach driving and inflate them again from inside the cab.

Firefighter and Commissioner Rich Surozenski arrived and looked at the safety stripes on the rear of the truck. “It’s supposed to say ‘Richie’s Truck’ on the back,” he joked. The new vehicle will replace the truck he captains, a 1977 Farm Machinery Corporation model housed at the Heights firehouse.

In August 2009, Island voters approved the $428,000 purchase of the new truck, with funds to come from $228,000 in bonds and $200,000 in equipment reserve funds. The annual debt service on the truck is about $50,000 per year.

Mike Hanratty of Firematic followed the new truck (driven by his son-in-law David Horton) on its journey from Yaphank to Shelter Island. It tracked beautifully, he said, and “got a lot of waves from fire departments along the way.”

His conclusion: “This truck … they’re gonna use.”