Back in Black: West-Metro Fire Engines Shift Away from Red

The West Metro Fire-Rescue District recently added the first of four new trucks to its fleet. Not only will they improve efficiency, but the department opted to go with a new color scheme.

West Metro, which serves the cities of Crystal and New Hope, is in the process of replacing the older fire engines in the fleet with new, upgraded engines.

 “The other ones will be following behind it shortly,” said Joshua Kunde, assistant chief with West Metro Fire-Rescue. “This replaces our 2011 fleet.”

The new engines will have upgraded safety features and the latest technology. 

“One of the things the new ones do is they actually have a larger water tank on them, so rather than 500 we now have 750 gallons of water,” Kunde said. “They have a little bit shorter wheel base allowing us to get into tighter spaces quicker and not have to worry about hitting curbs and other things.”

The West Metro Fire-Rescue Department recently received a new truck.

Having four identical engines should increase firefighter efficiency, according to Kunde.  

“They are pretty intuitive as far as their design goes and how you operate the trucks allowing the firefighters to be more efficient,” he said. “And keeping all four of them the same also makes huge efficiencies in the fire ground as far as getting the tools, running the trucks”

Instead of the candy-apple red paint job usually seen on fire trucks, the department ordered the new engines in black. 

“There’s not really any significance to the black other than the chief wanted to do something different than traditional red, and that landed us on black,” Kunde said.

The trucks are being built by Pierce Manufacturing in Appleton, Wisconsin. 

The department is selling the older trucks in the fleet on consignment, Kunde said. 

See also: Kitchen Fire Safety with West Metro Fire-Rescue District.

Crystal | New Hope