MINOT, ND (KXNET) — Fire Crews should always be ready to respond to a fire at a moment’s notice, and soon, the Minot Fire Department (MFD) will have an extra fire engine on standby.
The MFD has one reserve fire engine for all five stations to use when trucks go down for mechanical issues or annual routine maintenance.
However, MFD Battalion Chief Mason Maxwell explained that one reserve truck simply isn’t enough for five stations to share.
“We’ve had multiple times the last few years [when we had] a truck out of service with the reserve truck online and another truck went down for maintenance or mechanical issues and we didn’t have something to put online to replace it,” Maxwell explained.
To ensure they always have an engine online at all stations, MFD asked the city council for money to purchase a second reserve engine and was granted a $400,000 budget.
Maxwell says that the new engine will benefit not only the station but the entire community.
In the coming weeks, MFD will be researching which kind of fire vehicle the department should get and where they’ll get it from.
