NORWAY – Selectmen signed a $319,000 check Tuesday afternoon making the arrival of the town’s latest fire pumper official.

“It’s tall,” said fire Chief Michael Mann of the 2006 Ferrara custom pumper tanker that will hold 2,500 gallons of water and pump 1,250 gallons a minute. “It’s made for 30 years down the road.”

“It’s time we realize we have to put water on the road,” Mann said of the department’s need to carry water to a fire rather than depend on hydrants or water bodies for the trucks to fill their tanks during a fire. With the outlying areas of Norway being built up, Mann said it is particularly important to bring the new pumper online.

While the new truck is too large to get down some camp roads, Mann said it can be brought in as far as possible and hose can be laid to the scene. Lake Pennesseewassee is not an option to pump water from due to environmental restrictions, he said.

The truck was purchased from Ferrara Fire Apparatus Inc. of Holden, La., after town meeting voters appropriated the money last year.

Firefighters were at the station Tuesday night to equip the truck with hose and other tools. Mann said he hopes the truck will allow the department to keep several older trucks off the road on occasion, reducing maintenance costs.