WEST DUMMERSTON-The Dummerston Fire Department celebrated the recent arrival of their new tanker truck with a “push-in” ceremony March 21 at the main fire station on West Street.
Many community members showed up to cheer their firefighter neighbors as they “pushed” the Tanker 1 into the station, in keeping with an old fire service tradition to welcome new trucks in a firehouse.
The motor rumbled at a slow idle, and its emergency lights flashed. Retired Fire Chief Allen Pike was at the wheel as Tanker 1 was slowly backed in.
Folks were as attracted by the pulled pork, hot dogs, hamburgers, and homemade baked beans and doughnuts the firefighters were serving as they were to see the shiny new 2026 E-One Freightliner pumper truck, which was fitted out by St. Albans–based Desorcie Emergency Products.
Fire Chief Larry Pratt Jr. was like a proud parent with a new baby, showing off Tanker 1, which was parked outside the station with the rest of the department’s trucks.
The new Tanker 1 — which can also pinch-hit as a fire engine if one of the department’s two engines is out of service or on another call — cost the town $469,000.
“And that’s for a cheap truck,” Pratt said of the cost. “New engines today cost around $1 million. We have run three engines in previous years, but we’re going away from having a third engine and switching over to a tanker that can hold much more water. This is a milestone for us.”
Pratt explained that the new truck could carry 2,000 gallons of water, double that of the 1999 E-One Freightliner Pumper that it replaced.
Besides its greater capacity, the new truck can pump water faster — 1,200 gallons per minute, compared to the 1,000 gallons per minute of the old truck.
Another feature of the new truck that Pratt was happy to demonstrate was the portable water tank, which folds out from the truck. It can provide an extra 1,500 gallons of water for other trucks to draw from during shuttle operations in fires that are far from hydrants or fire ponds.
Rural fires can take a lot of water to put out, said Pratt, citing last August’s fire at Dwight Miller Orchards. The three-alarm fire on Aug. 16 destroyed the packing house building, and along with it, the orchard’s cold storage and produce coolers, its cider press and apple packing facilities, its retail area, and its maple evaporator and sugaring equipment.
“We could have used a truck like this for that fire,” Pratt said.
As a volunteer fire department, it needs to recruit trained people to run equipment like the new Tanker 1, and Pratt said the department is always seeking new people to help in any way they are able.
He said any residents interested in serving with the Dummerston Fire Department can stop by the West Street station any Tuesday at 6 p.m., email him at chief@dummerstonfire.org, or visit the department’s Facebook page.
This News item by Randolph T. Holhut was written for The Commons.