Walkersville Fire Company
 readies new fire engine

(10/25) On October 11th, the Walkersville Volunteer Fire Company (WVFC) said goodbye to their old Pierce Lance Engine 111 with over 26 years of service to welcome the new Engine 111 to their station.

The old engine was sold to the Bakerton Fire Company in Harpers Ferry. Bakerton had been without firefighting capability since the loss of their engine a month ago, so they leaped at the chance to obtain the well-maintained old Engine 111, according to Captain Matt Staley.

"Old E11 engine served Walkersville and surrounding communities for over 25 years honorably and effectively," said Vaughn Zimmerman, a retired volunteer firefighter of over 56 years. "She has done her job at countless fire incidents and other emergencies throughout the area. She was a good piece; they don’t make them like that anymore. We are sure she will continue to serve Bakerton long into the future,"

After over a year of planning by their equipment purchasing committee, Engine 111’s replacement, a 2021 Pierce Enforcer Engine was finally brought home from the local dealer to be equipped with extra tools and fittings. Once all training is completed and equipment installed in about a month, the WVFC will host the traditional push-in ceremony.

The New Engine 111 cost $725,000 and comes with a 1,000-gallon water tank and a 1,500 GPM (gallons per minute) pump. "New Engine 111 has a range of critically important safety and operational capabilities necessary to serve the diversity and complexity of our response area," said Matt Staley. While it will be smaller than many of Walkersville’s current engines. It is expected to be better for responding to automobile accidents and fires in highly developed areas.

"It has a lot of the components that we needed to change to make it safer to do our job," said Lieutenant Chase Tracey, a WVFC member in driver training. Matt Staley pointed out the lowered hose beds, extra lighting, and decreased risk for falling with this lower setup. The six-man cab is also fitted with rollover protection airbags and shoulder belts instead of lap-belts like in the ’94 pumper. "New Engine 111 has a range of critically important safety and operational capabilities necessary to serve the diversity and complexity of our response area," said Staley.

Scene lights came pre-installed on the new engine, but portable lighting with a generator is still required for on-scene firefighting where power is not available. The engine still needs to be fitted with all hoses and adapters. It also needs tools installed, including axes, rakes, drywall hooks, Halligan bars, sledgehammers, flashlights, a Knox box, a multi-gas meter, and other medical equipment for emergency medical service calls. All the equipment was saved from the previous engine before sale.

By reinstalling equipment from the old engine and buying fittings from a local vendor, the fire company amassed quite the savings. This careful spending allowed the equipment committee to invest in a safer design. The WVFC hopes to have the new engine fully paid for within three years, with funds coming from carnivals, weekly bingo, and other fundraising efforts by team members.