Ellisville Fire Department recently put into service its newest acquisition, a 1986 Kenworth Tanker which will haul 3,000 gallons of water. The truck, purchased this past March, has been in service for approximately two weeks.

Ellisville Fire Chief Hank Richardson said they the truck on the Internet and got a good deal.

“We found the truck on the Internet and had to go to northern Pennsylvania to get the truck,” said Richardson. “It was a 16-hour drive up, 16-hour drive back. We drove up one day, slept and picked it up and drove it home. We haven’t had any problems with it. It is a good truck.”

Since taking ownership, Richardson said they have made some other modifications to the truck.

“We had to take their lettering off of it and put ours on,” said Richardson. “When we did, it peeled the paint off so then we had to sand the paint down, repaint it and do some work. Then we painted the inside of the tank to stop rust and keep water from being rusty. We worked on it as we had time, got it ready to go and put it service about two seeks ago.”

Richardson said they purchased the truck from a fire department in the Corydon Township of Northwestern, Pa., approximately 90 miles south of Niagra Falls.

“The department there was a lot like our department,” said Richardson. “They got a grant and got a new tanker and had this one for sale. We went up there, looked at it, test drove it, checked it out real good, figured we needed to get it and brought it home.”

The truck has already respond to at least one structure fire and its ‘so far, so good,’ Richardson said.

“That truck will be a major help to all the fire departments we respond with,” said Richardson. “It will help us get a lot of water on the scene. We also have a drop tank, and a float pump that they let us have when we bought the truck.”

The Ellisville Fire Department now has three engines, one tanker and a brush truck.