CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The Beeville Volunteer Fire Department is celebrating the arrival of a new fire truck after two years of waiting for it.
Beeville Fire Chief Bill Burris said that the truck was delayed due to a manufacturing storage of parts.
"The truck framing is the hardest to get. To order a truck today, I was told that it could be anywhere between 24 to 36 months to build a truck," Burris said.
KRIS 6 News asked Chief Burris how the new truck would help support the county when it comes to responding to fires. He said that the truck will be used in extreme cases.
"Last year we had over 600 calls, this year it is starting off dry again and the calls are coming up,” Burris said. “This truck is going to be mainly used for a county run truck. It would be a backup to the city of Beeville in case we were to have a bad fire in the city and all of this.”
The $415,000 truck can hold thousands more gallons of water compared to the previous truck they had. Burris said that this truck will be beneficial for large structure fires.
"It's a game changer for us to help out on the county, especially on structure fires,” he said.
The volunteer fire department was able to get this truck thanks to grant money from the Texas A&M Forest Service, taxes paid by the Beeville Emergency Service District #1, and fees that Beeville citizens are currently paying on their water bill.
Burris said thanks to all of these efforts, fire crews are ready to face the challenges ahead for their community and help out neighboring counties most in need.
"This truck will be running alongside of our brush trucks on the county and things. From mutual aid for structure fires in Goliad, Live Oak, Refugio, Orange County, we can send this truck out there to assist them also,” he said.
Chief Burris that they are putting the last touches on the truck, but it is expected to be on the road by this weekend.
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