Mansfield station fire prompts need for new vehicle

March 14-- Mar. 14--Mansfield plans to buy a used fire engine within the next month or so in part to address a need created when Engine 2 caught fire last month.

"Due to the fire, we lost Engine 2," Fire Chief Neal Boldrighini told the Select Board March 6.

On Feb. 13, a two-alarm blaze started in Engine 2 while it was parked inside the North Main Street fire station. Onsite firefighters were alerted by smoke detectors and notified dispatch, moved the other vehicles outside and began efforts to put out the blaze. Two were sent to the hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, Boldrighini said.

Town Meeting voted last spring to approve $660,000 for a new engine to replace a 2006 one.

Insurance is expected to cover the Engine 2's replacement. Boldrighini said the manufacturer may be able to do both orders together, allowing the new engines to be in place this fall.

However this still leaves the town with just two engines, one of which is its reserve one. The engine, built in 1995, has been on loan from Norton from about a year. It is currently being used in Engine 2's stead.

"It's not to be used as a front line apparatus," Boldrighini said. "We face a real problem with just two pieces."

Boldrighini said the reserve engine does not have a set of Jaws of Life for extracting motor vehicle accident victims. While the town is borrowing the vehicle it is responsible for any repairs needed.

"It's served us well but we're pretty much on borrowed time," Boldrighini said.

After exploring options for a different loaned vehicle, the chief said he found a showcase engine, a year old, available for $560,000.

"It's pretty much brand new," he said. "It was used as a demo."

The town would be able to pay for the engine in two payments -- half now and the rest after July 1.

The engine could arrive within 30 to 45 days.

Once the two new engines arrive in September, the former demo engine would become Mansfield's reserve one.

"We really don't have much of a choice," Select Board Chairman Michael Trowbridge said.

In the aftermath of the fire, the Fire Department is currently basing equipment and firefighters at the town's new public safety building instead of the North Main Street station.

The old station was expected to be closed this spring when town's new public safety building is expected to open on Route 106.

Boldrighini also thanked all the community members who called, send notes and provide baked goods to the department in light of the fire.

"It's been a very, very difficult time," he said.

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