There were no injuries, Chief Walker added, but the damage to the fire truck was “a total loss.”

It was the “early hours of May 27,” according to a Facebook posting from the Bedford Professional Firefighters Association, when “Engine 153 was struck while blocking the scene of a previous accident near the eastbound split with Highway 121, in Bedford.  “The crew was inside the truck” the post stated, when the SUV plowed into the left rear section of the fire truck.

At an estimated cost of $960,000, the replacement is a Spartan S-180 pumper, Walker said, and will be purchased through Metro Fire Apparatus Specialists.  Metro is based in Houston, but with a North Texas office in Mansfield, according to the company’s website.

As explained by the meeting’s agenda, $354,408 (36.6%) for the purchase will come from “insurance proceeds,” while the $614,592 (63.4%) balance will be applied from the “Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds,” through “the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA).”  The agenda states that, “in total, small cities, have been allocated approximately $1.38 billion.”  City Council had already approved $10 million of the City’s recovery funds “to replace lost revenue.”

The City gave the replacement engine “a good look” and “it meets every standard,” Chief Walker stated.  “It’s actually a bigger pump and bigger water tank than we’ve had in the past,” he said and estimated its assembly would be completed by February and ready for service by April of this coming year.

Walker explained to the Council that new fire engines are usually custom built and typically take about two years to assemble.  But, the City doesn’t have the luxury of time in this case, he emphasized.  The City, he said, normally maintains two frontline engines and a ladder truck, but at this point, the fleet is down to one of each with only one other engine and a 16-year-old ladder truck in reserve.