{"id":37399,"date":"2026-06-08T15:40:31","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T19:40:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/?p=37399"},"modified":"2026-06-08T15:40:33","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T19:40:33","slug":"decaturs-new-fire-truck-has-arrived","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/08\/decaturs-new-fire-truck-has-arrived\/","title":{"rendered":"Decatur&#8217;s new fire truck has arrived"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>By BOB SHRALUKA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>WZBD.com<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Decatur&#8217;s new fire truck has arrived and could be in service by early July.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The $2.5 million aerial truck was purchased from the MacQueen Co., a Wisconsin dealer for Pierce fire trucks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is a stock truck, with a few miles on it due to some use for demonstrations and the like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Fire Chief Jeff Sheets told city council at the time the purchase was being discussed that the stock truck would have all the specifications the city department needs and a few modifications could be made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Those modifications were completed in approximately three months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Going the conventional route would have required an expenditure of around $4 million for a new aerial truck which could not be delivered in less than four years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Local firefighters will receive three days of training on the use of the truck, with June 15th through 17th scheduled, Sheets informed city council at its latest meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe hope to have it in service by the first part of July,\u201d Sheets told WZBD.com.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The new truck measures 43 feet in length and is 11 feet, 4 inches high. It weighs in at 76,000 pounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It can take a firefighter 100 feet into the air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The fire chief said the new aerial can be set up by one person in about one minute versus two to three minutes with three personnel for the current aerial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere are a lot of features on this aerial that our current one does not have,\u201d Sheet said. \u201cThe rear wheels turn about four degrees to help with turning; the ladder can go below grade by the design of the aerial and different set up with out riggers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The new truck is replacing one which is approximately 29 years old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">SEE THE NEW ONE: The new fire truck will be on display along with other trucks, equipment and firefighters at the station each Friday morning in June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The fire department annually holds its School&#8217;s Out Summer Youth Tours in June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hours are 8-11:30 a.m. each Friday. The station is located at 206 S. Seventh St.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMeet our firemen, see our trucks, enjoy a treat,\u201d the department said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By BOB SHRALUKA WZBD.com Decatur&#8217;s new fire truck has arrived and could be in service by early July.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37400,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[14,15,21],"class_list":["post-37399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-decatur","tag-featured","tag-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Fire-truck-side.jpg?fit=1169%2C694&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37399"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37401,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37399\/revisions\/37401"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}