The Kilgore City Council has approved a recommendation for a quintuple combination pumper, to replace the current platform truck.
Still in service but often sidelined with persistent maintenance issues, the current engine is a painful reminder of a familiarization exercise in 2009.
The truck’s basket failed during the exercise and several firefighters were injured and Kyle Perkins, 45, and Cory Galloway, 28, fell to their deaths. In May, a jury split the blame for Perkins’ death between the truck’s manufacturer and the City of Kilgore.
The truck still carries the stigma, weighing heavily on the firefighters involved in the tragedy.
Following the trade-in of that vehicle, the city will pay approximately $282,000 for the new quint from Ferrara Fire Apparatus Inc., a custom rig built especially for the Kilgore fire service.
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