GREENWOOD – Three months after voters turned down a new firetruck, an independent organization has purchased a vehicle for the Greenwood Fire Department.
Chief Jim Owens said the Greenwood Fire Department Association raised $18,000 after the vote and purchased a 1991 Ford truck with a 12-foot rescue body.
“It is an older vehicle, so it’s not going to last us 15 or 20 years like a newer one would,” Owens said. “But for right now, it will fit Greenwood’s needs.”
In August, voters decided 44-30 at a special town meeting against authorizing the department to purchase a 1992 truck for $75,000 from a Maryland department. Voters previously rejected purchase of a new truck for $225,000.
The truck was purchased from Woodstock, Conn., and driven to Maine on Saturday by Owens and firefighters David Goodwin and Ray Wakefield.
It will replace a 1982 school bus that has served as the department’s equipment vehicle.
The bus recently failed an inspection and has safety concerns.
“The bus is town property and it will go up for bid, probably within a month or so,” said Owens. “We’re not going to use it at all.”
The truck will house the department’s air cascade system, which Greenwood transports as part of the Northern Oxford Mutual Aid Association.
Owens said the vehicle also features a small command area and a space where a person may be kept out of inclement weather while awaiting an ambulance. The truck is being modified by Northeast Fire Equipment in Auburn to hold the air system.
The Greenwood Fire Department Association is an independent organization of firefighters and residents. The organization owns the vehicle and will lease it to the town for the next three months.
Greenwood’s annual town meeting will take place in March.
Owens said the department will decide on a plan for the truck, and the issue will go to voters if the association decides to donate or sell the truck to the town.
Town Manager Kim Sparks said the vehicle is legally covered by the town’s insurance under the lease. Owens said the lease also covers fuel and maintenance costs.
Additional money donated to the department will be used to purchase new equipment for the vehicle.
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