The Port Hope Fire and Emergency Services welcomed two new additions to their fleet of equipment on Tuesday, May 30, 2023.
A “push-in ceremony” was held at both Station 1 in Port Hope and Station 2 in Welcome.
Director of Protective Services, Jason Williams said the tradition goes back over 150-years before there were vehicles.
Williams said the water tankers were pulled by horse and wagon, but when they got back to the firehall, the horses couldn’t back up. So the horses would be unhitched and the firefighters would push-in the equipment to the firehall.
Williams said a light rescue truck will be housed at Station 1 in Port Hope and a heavy rescue truck will be housed at Station 2 in Welcome.
The heavy rescue will be used for most motor vehicle collisions including Highway 401 and the light rescue will be used in urban Port Hope.
The vehicles were put into the 2023 budget and have been in the works for only eight months.
“We did a lot of research looking into the technical components we wanted to provide to the community. It’s only been over the last couple of months we actually secured them because of the supply issue.”
Williams said, “we’re very fortunate to obtain both these vehicles on time, and under budget.”
Total cost for both vehicles was $1.2 million.
If the vehicles were custom order it would have taken approximately three years to receive them and there would be no fixed price due to supply chain issues.
“The cost of these vehicles are going up 1% every four weeks. So the fact we were able to get them right after the budget was approved and were able to secure the vehicles we wanted puts us in a great position.”
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
