Equipment cost about $527,000

A brand-new fire pumper truck will soon be in place at the Albert Lea Fire Department.

The 33-foot-long pumper replaces the current pumper that is approximately 20 years old.

“We’re staying on top of current fire-fighting technology,” said Lt. Dennis Glassel of the Albert Lea Fire Department. “It’s going to be a reliable piece of equipment we can count on.”

The new pumper cost $527,000, Glassel said.

The Fire Department staff are trying to find a new owner for the current pumper. They aren’t sure how much its return would be.

Glassel hopes to have the pumper in service within the next month. The contract for the pumper was signed earlier this year.

Although the pumper will fit into the fire station, he said there is still a need for more space at the station.

“We don’t have the space to efficiently house all of the equipment that we have,” Glassel said.

City officials announced in August they are looking at building a new fire station due to space restrictions. They cited several reasons, including that new ladder trucks can’t fit into the facility, so a truck would have to be custom-built.

A second pumper is at the fire station, and a third one is at the Albert Lea Township Fire Department.

The pumper was purchased from Fire Safety USA out of Rochester, and it was manufactured by Florida-based fire truck manufacturer E-One, Glassel said.