Cheshire voters to decide rescue-vehicle purchase

From left, Capt. Shawn McGrath, firefighters Shawn Martin and Kim Martin, Capt. Corey McGrath, Capt. Tom Francesconi, firefighter Corey Swistak and Chief George Sweet pose with the department's broken-down rescue truck that they hope to get replaced. Ryan Hutton/North Adams Transcript


Friday, May 4
CHESHIRE — Firefighters are asking voters to approve $165,000 loan over five years at the May 16 town meeting to replace its rescue truck, currently immobile and sitting behind the firehouse.
A few weeks ago, the exhaust literally blew apart on the 21-year-old ambulance that the department uses to shelter accident victims from the elements until a certified ambulance arrives.

"We have a unique setup here because we don't have ambulance service for 15 or 20 minutes out here, and we have to at least stabilize our victims until it gets to the scene," Fire Capt. Fred Balawender, an emergency medical technician, said Thursday at the firehouse. Adams Ambulance Service is usually the closest service available.

The proposed rescue vehicle was designed by the Fire Department's truck committee, beginning with a wish list of features that were slowly whittled away to be more cost effective. Now, according to Capt. Corey McGrath, the department is hoping for a truck that has none of the frills but all of the necessities for modern emergency response.

"We have a unique situation here in Cheshire — we have the lake, we have two recreational trails, we have the


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schools, all with a volunteer department," McGrath said. "We've had accidents on Route 116 where we need to keep the victims out of the elements because we're so far from ambulance response."
The department is not currently licensed to transport victims but the new truck could easily be outfitted to do so for $1,300 extra, said McGrath. That makes sense, he said, because it could cost thousands of dollars to retrofit it in the future.

Town officials have talked positively about purchasing a truck, though some concerns have been raised about the price, which appears on the town warrant as Article 5.

The Board of Selectmen and the Advisory Committee discussed the truck's price tag at Tuesday's board meeting. Selectman Paul Astorino and committee member Joseph Greenbush wondered if a lower price could be had.

"The last time we bought a truck it was cheaper, (but) there have been significant market increases in firefighting apparatus," Capt. Shawn McGrath said. "Everything is twice as much as the last time we had to update equipment."

Selectmen Chairwoman Carol Francesconi agreed Thursday.

"I think that the Fire Department found a truck to best fit its needs," she said. "Yes, there are cheaper models but if it's not going to work for the town then we need to buy what does work for them."

Fire Chief George Sweet said the truck is specifically designed to fit all the needs of the town and will be an investment that lasts decades. The old truck, a 1986 ambulance used in New York state, was purchased for $10,000 by the department out of its own funds, so there was no cost to the town.

"We got it in the mid-1990s and it's been in and out of the shop ever since," Sweet said. "We just can't keep pumping money into that thing."