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By KATHY COPELAND / Special to the Reporter

VINCENT — At the close of Vincent’s Council meeting Tuesday evening, June 16, Council members and those attending the meeting had the opportunity to view Vincent’s new fire truck for the first time.

This $203,000 beauty is dual purpose, according to Mayor Ray McAllister.

“It replaces two older trucks, an old rescue truck and a 1972 model pumper truck,” McAllister said. “This unit increases the department’s efficiency.”

The last new fire truck for Vincent’s all volunteer fire department was in 2011 when “Vincent was (one of) only five or six communities in Alabama to receive a grant,” said Councilman Johnny Edwards.

The 2011 truck is a five-passenger Pierce fire truck purchased through the grant awarded from FEMA’s Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program and cost $225,000.

This new investment is a truck that will allow Vincent’s trained volunteers to respond to any call quickly. Because of its dual purpose, “It serves as a rescue unit and a pumper truck, it has a 300- gallon water tank but a 1500-gallon pump, the same as the big truck,” said McAllister. It makes this unit not only efficient but less expensive to operate.

“This is also an investment that will increase our ISO score,” said McAllister.

ISO stands for Insurance Services Office. It scores fire departments on how they are doing against its organization’s standards to determine property insurance costs. It evaluates and rates a community’s ability to handle fires.

With this new investment now occupying space at the Fire Department, the Council voted to surplus its oldest unit. Fire Truck 52 will soon be on the auction block at Govdeals.com.