When the McKinney Fire Department needs a new fire truck, there is no dealership with truck salespeople. The city puts out bids for companies to build trucks from the ground up, said Robert Alley, assistant chief of operations and training.
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.
