‘Out with the old, in with the new’

“Well, that funeral is over,” Johnston Fire Chief Timothy McLaughlin said last Thursday morning while standing in an area at Sims Metals Recycling Center off Shun Pike. “It’s out with the old, in with the new.”

McLaughlin and Mayor Joseph Polisena led a delegation of two-dozen Johnston firefighters, who stood by in case any problems arose, while watching three huge machines crush the Fire Department’s 1991 ladder truck.

“That old truck more than served its function for us,” McLaughlin said.

“In its place, we now have a state-of-the-art 2014 Rosenbauer ladder truck that is equipped with everything from a remote control unit that can be operated from as far as 500 feet away, to a special 1,000-gallon holding tank. And for that, we have to thank – and are certainly grateful – that Mayor Polisena saw the need for a new ladder truck.”

McLaughlin said this “really adds to our impressive fleet that all the citizens of Johnston can be proud of. The ladder truck is 109 feet long and is equipped with the latest instruments in fire fighting.”

Moreover, the chief added: “Our guys are ecstatic to have the new ladder truck in our fleet. It’s good for the citizens of town and has been a big morale booster since it was delivered a month ago.”

Johnston now has two state-of-the-art fire apparatus following the addition of the 2014 Spartan ERV factory-built custom pumper, which saved the town of Johnston $349,250 because it was donated by Sims Metals Management and is now known as the “Sims Express.”

The new ladder truck is valued at $750,000 and comes to Johnston with money the town won in a lawsuit with Broadrock Renewable Energy and Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corp.

As for the 1991 ladder truck, Polisena said: “It was bittersweet watching it crushed as if it were a piece of cardboard. After all, I rode that truck during my days as a firefighter.”

Polisena noted that Johnston will receive a $150,000 grant from the Department of Environmental Management and an additional $7,500 from Sims Metals from last Thursday’s scrapping of the old ladder truck.