Significant upgrades arrive for Carroll County firefighters
HUNTINGDON, Tenn. — Carroll County Fire Department has received a major upgrade. Four brand new tankers arrived Monday, as part of a 12-truck fleet upgrade.
A gathering was held Monday morning at the Carroll County Civic Center in Huntingdon to discuss the upgrade.
Chief Jonathan Gaskins shares the significance of modernizing their equipment.
“With our current fleet, we’ve had some mechanical issues and some age of the trucks, and it was a need that the county seen from that the volunteer firefighters had told them and what I have explained to them, and we realized it was something that needed to be addressed now,” Gaskins said.
The four apparatus the county received are four two thousand gallon pumper tankers.
The fleet was a part of a $5.4 million investment by the Carroll County government.
“Our rural fire committee, a part of our County Commission, has worked for several years now in planning on modernizing our equipment and training, and just the overall fire service,” said Carroll County Mayor Joseph Butler. “And so, a big part of that was investing in– we knew to invest in fire apparatus.”
Mayor Butler says the investment is a product of years of planning and budgeting.
This project stretches countywide as each station is expected to get an upgrade.
“Our goal is to try to get these four tankers in service within 30 days of their arrival,” said Gaskins. “We’ve still got to do some paperwork and some installation of communications equipment and things like that.”
Chief Gaskins says the county’s current fleet was at an average age of 38 years and in dire need of upgrades.
The rest of the fleet includes six engines and two mini pumpers.
They are expected to arrive by January 2026, with hopes of being operational by March.
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