Beach Haven Volunteer Fire Company members drive new water rescue truck home from Texas

A brand-new, custom-built water rescue truck has rolled into the Beach Haven firehouse.

Beach Haven Volunteer Fire Co. Chief Matt Letts and Deputy Fire Chief George Salazar flew to Texas via the Philadelphia International Airport bright and early Thursday morning July 16 to pick up the 2015 GMC Sierra 3500 HD. The following day, the two started driving the truck the 1,600 miles back to New Jersey. By late Saturday afternoon, they arrived in Manahawkin at Barlow Buick GMC to pick up an inspection sticker, clean off the truck and get “all the dead bugs off it,” before finally arriving in Beach Haven.

“It was fun. It was a nice, easy trip. (There were) no problems,” said Letts.

Photo via Beach Haven Volunteer Fire Co.
The new water rescue truck arrived in
Beach Haven on Saturday.

The department ordered the truck’s cab through Barlow, and it was later shipped out to Texas-based BFXFire, which specializes in forest fire trucks often used by the U.S. Forest Service. The truck’s lightweight, composite-style body means it will run better on the beach and will not rust, Letts noted.

The new truck, fully funded by the Beach Haven Fire Co., will be the department’s primary water rescue truck. The other water rescue truck will replace the department’s utility truck, which reached the end of its life about six months ago.

“The other pickup truck will pull the second Jet-Ski on the trailer, and then that’ll be our utility truck to run around for classes and stand by for wires down and stuff like that,” said Letts.

Building a new water rescue truck, opposed to a new utility truck, “made more sense,” he added. The new truck has additional cabinet space and a “better layout,” which gives the firefighters more of what they need “to more efficiently do the water rescues.”

The new truck is already stocked with a majority of the necessary equipment, but the department needs to install a few radios and “a couple other little things,” said Letts. It should be operational within the next couple weeks.

The truck officially will be dedicated when the company holds a traditional housing ceremony in October. The department will also be welcoming a new fire truck, which is being custom built for the firehouse’s low-garage height.

“It’s brand-new. It’s being built as we speak,” Letts said.

The fire truck is technically replacing two fire trucks, one that was lost in Superstorm Sandy and another used truck that was purchased in 2011. It will arrive sometime in mid- to late August.

— Kelley Anne Essinger

This article was published in The SandPaper.