Back row, left to right; Captain Aaron Seavers, Deputy Chief Kylle Marshall, Lieutenant Adam White, Fire Inspector Roger Cruzan, Engineer Jacob Andazola, Engineer Colton Allen, Lieutenant Jerry O'Neal, Lieutenant Preston Johnson, Assistant Fire Chief Jeff Fell, and Fire Chief Milo Lambert. Front row, left to right; Firefighter Benjamin Schlamb, Firefighter Immanuel Dangerfield, Firefighter Jaedon Rodriguez, Firefighter Zachary Ore, Firefighter Luis Reza, Engineer Jesse Blair, Engineer Skyler McGiveron, and Engineer Benjamin Valerio.

Story and photo by Roger Lanse

A brand-new custom-built fire engine was driven to the Silver City Fire Department on Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2020, at noon.

The new vehicle's cost, according to Milo Lambert, SCFD Chief, was about $564,000. The funds to purchase the vehicle came from the New Mexico Fire Marshal's Office, maintenance money that would have been used to repair the department's aging engine, which amounted to about $80,000 this year, a loan from the New Mexico Department of Finance, and the application of a just paid-off loan on an EMS vehicle to this new engine. Some funds had also been set aside at SCFD for a few years to help defray the cost, Lambert said.

Two SCFD members went to Grand Rapids, Mich. for two days earlier this year, Lambert stated, to specify which features SCPD wanted incorporated into this custom-built vehicle built by HME – Ahrens Fox, specifically for Silver City. What SCFD wanted most of all was a 'clean-cab' design, allowing firefighters to enter the cab clean, leaving the smoke, mud, and carcinogen-laced clothes and equipment in special bins and compartments outside the cab. A hot water shower outside the cab also limits the amount of carcinogens brought inside, Lambert said.

"It's an extremely special truck," Lambert said, "The first one built to these specifications by HME."

Some equipment from the department's 10 to12-year-old fire truck will be utilized in the new vehicle and eventually the old one will probably be auctioned off, Lambert stated.

Back row, left to right; Captain Aaron Seavers, Deputy Chief Kylle Marshall, Lieutenant Adam White, Fire Inspector Roger Cruzan, Engineer Jacob Andazola, Engineer Colton Allen, Lieutenant Jerry O'Neal, Lieutenant Preston Johnson, Assistant Fire Chief Jeff Fell, and Fire Chief Milo Lambert.
Front row, left to right; Firefighter Benjamin Schlamb, Firefighter Immanuel Dangerfield, Firefighter Jaedon Rodriguez, Firefighter Zachary Ore, Firefighter Luis Reza, Engineer Jesse Blair, Engineer Skyler McGiveron, and Engineer Benjamin Valerio.