Warwick Fire Department borrows trucks while aging fleet is out of service

By: Amanda Pitts

alpitts@abc6.com

@AmandaPittsTV

WARWICK, R.I. — The Warwick Fire Department is borrowing trucks from neighboring cities and towns as it struggles with an aging fleet.

The department has been using trucks from nearly ten cities and towns for at least six months, and firefighters say recently they’ve had to borrow more equipment than usual, as six of their front line pieces are out of service.

The departments lending their trucks and equipment are West Warwick, East Providence, North Providence, Providence, North Kingstown, Johnston, Narragansett, Cranston, and Attleboro.

"Thirty percent of apparatus in the city are either from outside communities or reserve here within the city."

Noah Craven, Vice President of the Firefighters Union and Warwick firefighter, said the reason the city is borrowing trucks is that their own fleet is aging and breaking down.

Some firefighters at the department are younger than the equipment they’re using.

"We have apparatus in the city dating back 27 years, roughly 200 thousand miles on them."

Three engines, one ladder, a rescue and a battalion chief vehicle are currently out of service. The biggest worry is what happens when something breaks mid-emergency.

"If a piece of apparatus goes down while it’s on its way to a call, it’ll be a delayed response."

Craven says it’s already happened several times. The latest just a few weeks ago when an ambulance broke down on the way to a call.

Firefighters are now asking for these trucks to rotate out of service once they reach a certain age.

"If you can maintain a good fleet of front line, as they get older, we put them into reserve status and that would prevent us having to go outside the city."

Mayor Joseph Solomon told us he’s working on a solution to the problem. In the meantime, he’s thanking all of the cities and towns that are helping out.

"I’m thankful and grateful to our neighboring communities who have allowed us to utilize their spare equipment."

The trucks are slowly working their way back into service. Two were repaired on Monday. As of right now, there’s no permanent solution to the problem.

Stay with ABC6 News for updates on this story. 

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