| Banksville Fire Company Receives New Tanker Truck
By: Frank MacEachern, Staff Writer
Greenwich Times, January 4, 2012
A volunteer fire company that battles blazes on both sides of the Connecticut/New York state line has beefed up its firefighting capabilities by adding a second tanker truck.
The Banksville Independent Fire Co., which serves backcountry Greenwich and North Castle, N.Y., added the 3,500-gallon tanker to its fleet in mid-December, Chief Al Farquhar said. The new truck cost $372,000.
Farquhar said the tanker, along with the older 1989 3,000-gallon tanker that the department will keep, will ensure the fire agency always has enough water at a fire.
"It's quite a bit of water we can bring to a fire," he said. "The two tankers give us more leeway in fighting fires."
That extra capacity is crucial because there are no fire hydrants in Banksville, N.Y., nor is there one in the northern backcountry area of Greenwich they serve, Farquhar said. Firefighters have to go to other water sources -- namely lakes and rivers -- for their water supply.
The cost of the 2011 Mack/KME tanker was split between the towns of Greenwich and North Castle, Farquhar said.
"They each gave $200,000, so we came in under budget and we used the rest of the money for equipment," on the tanker, said the chief, who is in his 11th year with the company and in his first year as chief.
"Our tanker is the busiest truck in the firehouse," he said. "We do a lot of mutual aid with that truck."
The tanker is frequently called in to aid Greenwich firefighters at the North Street Station, he said.
Todd Kennedy, who lives on North Street about a quarter-mile from the New York State line and is a Representative Town Meeting member for District 11/Northeast, says the addition of the tanker truck gives the department another firefighting tool -- and helps keep the community safe.
"It's so valuable to have a tanker truck, that we kept the old one," said Kennedy, 76, who is also a member of the department. "We go all over Greenwich if we are called. It is better for us because we don't have pressurized water up here."
He owns Kennedy Nursery, a company founded in 1941 by his father Wellington.
The Banksville station is called Station 7 by Greenwich. North Street is Station 8.
There are about 16-20 active volunteer firefighters in the company, Farquhar said.
The company also has three pumper trucks, or engines, as firefighters call them, a rescue truck and a utility truck.
http://www.greenwichtime.com/news/article/Banksville-fire-company-receives-new-tanker-truck-2439142.php |
