City expects delivery of new fire truck

July 10--New Bern will get the new fire truck at the end of the month that caused a small stir this past November when the budget for it was being worked out and whether it would bear the name of former mayor Lee Bettis.

Aldermen approved the financing for a 2014 Sutphen Quint aerial ladder fire truck Tuesday night to replace the fire department's 1999 Sutphen pumper fire truck. The board agreed the cost of the new fire truck is not to exceed $756,633, and would be financed through SunTrust for 15 years with an interest rate of 2.86 percent. The first payment will be due in January.

In November, Bettis and newly elected Mayor Dana Outlaw debated the timing of the purchase of the fire truck during the last session of the previous Board of Aldermen.

Outlaw said he wanted to table the request to get more information and to let the three newly elected board members have a say in the decision. Bettis alleged it was a political move to keep his name off of the new fire truck, which he said was fine with him as long as the city acquired the vehicle.

According to a memo sent last year to Scott Davis, city attorney, Outlaw asked if it was possible to change the long held city policy of putting the names of mayors on future fire trucks and instead use the names of fallen heroes.

Davis responded that the board could vote on how it wants to name or not name fire apparatus, but he suggested Outlaw check with New Bern Fire Chief Bobby Aster about the history and traditions associated with naming fire trucks.

Putting names of mayors on fire trucks is a unique tradition in New Bern dating back to at least 1879, Aster said during an interview in November.

Aster said Thursday the new fire truck will have former Mayor Lee Bettis' name on it.

For other vehicles in the Fire Department bear the name of former longtime mayor Tom Bayless. One is named after former mayor Leander Morgan; and one retired truck at the Firemen's Museum bears the name of former mayor Ella Bengel.

The 2014 Sutphen Quint fire truck, being built in Dublin, Ohio, will be able to carry six firefighters and is equipped with a pumper and a 75-foot ladder.

Aster is traveling to Ohio next week for a final inspection of the fire truck and it should be delivered to New Bern by the end of the month, he said.

The fire truck will be assigned to the Thurman Road Fire Station, which will give the station full credit for a fire engine company and half credit for a ladder company that it currently does not have, Aster said.

Those credits will help the station maintain or lower its ISO fire rating score, which is a public protection classification and has a direct effect on insurance premiums for residents, Aster said.

Aster said the fire truck will be an important piece of equipment for New Bern, giving firefighters an elevated platform with its 75-foot ladder that will help knock down fires and keep them from spreading to nearby structures. It also gives firefighters an advantage when there are only three or four men initially at the fire scene, he said.

"It is a wonderful tool," Aster said. "It will help when there is a shortage of personnel. It is capable of putting a water stream in areas where they normally wouldn't be able to without more manpower being there."

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