The Hardy Fire Department is celebrating the addition of a new replacement tanker truck.
According Hardy Fire Chief Joshua Moore, the truck was delivered Nov. 25 by the Arkansas Department of Agriculture (ADA).
The former tanker, was lost during the April floods while being used to rescue an individual from floodwaters.
“We lost the other in the flood in the spring and have been working with the ADA to get us a new tanker back in operation,” Moore said.
The process to receive the new tanker began immediately following the loss of the initial tanker and thanks to the assistance of other departments and the Hardy Volunteer Fire Department, operations have run smoothly in the interim.
“So even being a municipality we don’t have a lot of great water supply for hydrants but cover such a large area. The city limits aren’t that big but the department covers 28 square miles and once outside city limits we don’t have hydrants so being able to carry 2,000 gallons is a big plus,” Moore said. “We also support the departments around us. Here recently the smaller departments have been supporting us.”
This tanker is safer, heavier and stronger than the last.
“It has a metal baffle tank so is heavier. It also has low miles. We want to thank the ADA and former Rep. Scott Baltz who is the current Fire Chief of Pocohontas,” Moore said. “I’d reached out to him when we lost ours, he had one but I didn’t want to bring it here because it was older but he is who made the call to forestry to help us.”
The department received a grant for $11,000 toward obtaining the truck.
“The first time I saw the truck it was camouflage and didn’t have a tank on it yet,” Moore said. “ADA has a program if they have trucks you can get on the list to get equipment. We got an $11,000 grant to help build this truck and the total cost to the city was $21,000. We were able to use insurance money from the destroyed truck to pay for this one.”
Moore said the new truck will allow the department to better serve the citizens of Hardy and surrounding departments.
“Hardy had a great crew and we continue to build. We will continue to support the smaller departments around us,” Moore said. “To me jurisdiction lines aren’t real. If anyone were help whether it’s us; Ozark Acres or Highland we will come out and help.”
Lauren is a an award-winning journalist who decided after 10 years of newspaper experience to venture out. Hallmark Times was born.
