There are several types of trucks that the department uses. A ladder truck and fire engine are being built. Construction will start soon on a tiller truck, a tractor-drawn ladder truck with a driver for the front and back of the vehicle. Each truck takes about a year to build, Alley said.
The department has five fire engines, which cost about $900,000 each, Alley said. Fire engines, also known as fire pumpers, pump water through hoses to apply to a fire.
MFD also has five ladder trucks, fire engines that have ladders on them in the event that firefighters need to make a rescue at a high altitude. These cost between $1.4 million-$1.9 million.
Medical units are ambulances that firefighters drive. These trucks are replaced every five to six years and cost about $400,000. MFD has 10 medical units.
When selecting a bidder, Alley said price is not the only factor to consider.
“We also look at what [the company] can provide as far as maintenance and all that in the future because if we have problems, we want to be able to get it fixed,” Alley said.
In addition to ladder trucks, fire engines and medical units, the department has one aircraft rescue firefighting truck, also called an ARFF truck. This is a specialized vehicle made to respond to emergencies at McKinney National Airport.
ARFF trucks have large nozzles that eject both water and foam. The foam protects people while they evacuate a plane that is on fire. Alley said the department will likely purchase another ARFF truck in the next four or five years.
“We’ve tried to purchase not only what’s best for the community,” Alley said. “We go out and we look at what kind of buildings we have. Do you have high rises? Do you have regular homes? In McKinney, we have a lot of residential neighborhoods, but we do have a lot of commercial buildings as well, and we have an airport we have to protect.”
