A brand new fire truck will be joining the fleet of Brownwood Fire Department by the first of December, just in time to be on display in the annual lighted Christmas Parade.

Delivery of the new 2013 Ferrara 100’ ladder truck is expected on December 1st according to Brownwood City Manager Bobby Rountree.  Currently it is being completed with decals of the department and certain modifications requested by BFD officials.

The $970,000 purchase will be financed through a 7-year capital lease with Citizen’s National Bank which was approved at Tuesday’s meeting of the council.  Three quarterly payments totaling $112,000 would be made during the current fiscal year with funds provided by the Brown County Water Improvement District buy-in, which totaled $822,087. (The Cities of Early and Zephyr became official water customers of BCWID in August after paying a “buy-in” lump-sum amount based on a share of the bond payments already made by current BCWID customers.  This “buy-in” payment was reimbursed to current customers Brownwood, Brookesmith and Bangs.)  There will be 6 ¼ years of payments remaining in future years with annual payments of approximately $150,000, which would be included in future years’ budgets.

The old Quint, which the new truck will replace, was deemed surplus equipment and will be sold in an “as is” condition.  The 17-year-old Quint has approximately $45,000 of needed repairs and had become unreliable and costly to keep in service, according to city officials.  The new truck will provide the reliability necessary to allow fire & rescue to continue to provide safety services to the residents, businesses and industry of Brownwood, according to city manager Bobby Rountree.  Funds raised from the sale of the Quint will be placed into a designated account for future replacement of a 2000 Quality Rescue Pumper, said Rountree.