Caledonia fire district buys truck
The Caledonia City Council unanimously approved the purchase of a fire truck for $80,550 at its July 26 meeting.

The 1995 Freightliner FL80 Pumper is coming from Palm Beach County, Florida. Fire department members Chuck Gavin and Jason Leahy traveled to Florida on July 23 to check it out.

Gavin told council members on July 26 that the truck has a good transmission, comes with a six month warranty, and operates the same as their other truck.

ìItís a really nice truck,î Gavin said. ìItís everything we need.î

Mayor Bob Burns read a letter from Kermit McRae, a member of the Caledonia Rural Fire District, stating that the district supports the purchase. The cost will be split between the city and the townships of Black Hammer, Brownsville, Caledonia, Crooked Creek, Mayville, Mound Prairie, Sheldon, Union, Wilmington, and Winnebago.

Gavin and firemen Dan Schwartz, Doug Ely, Wally Macomber, and Matt Hoscheit thanked the council for its support.

ìHopefully we wonít see you again for a while,î council member John Klug joked.

The fire department is in urgent need of the new pumper, which arrived late last week. The old spare pumper needed about $30,000 in repair work. Fire department members had hoped to buy a used pumper from a department in Bixby, Oklahoma. The council and fire district approved $55,000 for it last November, but the deal fell through recently.