Freightliner donates fire truck

Freightliner president

Freightliner LLC has donated a new bright red $240,000 fire truck to the Oregon Dept. of Public Safety Standards and Training Academy.

The truck is a 2005 model pumper featuring an American LaFrance body on a Freightliner M2 medium duty chassis. It can carry five fire fighters, has a 1,000 gallon water tank and can pump up to 1,000 gallons per minute.

The academy trains over 8,000 fire fighters a year from 300 fire departments throughout the state.

"In the past, we've used older fire trucks that were retired from service but this new fire truck will give trainees hands-on experience with state-of-the-art fire fighting equipment,” said Eriks Gabliks, deputy director of the Dept. of Public Safety Standards and Training. “In addition to being used for training firefighters, on occasion the Freightliner pumper may be on call for real emergencies such as large brush fires."