It was about noon Monday when Fire Chief Sandy Castleberry and a handful of others gathered outside the White Hall Fire Station on Anderson Avenue, eagerly awaiting the arrival of a $400,000 custom-made Pierce pumper truck.
A few minutes later, the Conway dealer handed him the keys, and Castleberry took it for a short drive before getting down to the business of readying it for service.
"It handles like a dream," Castleberry said.
His goal, he said shortly after receiving the truck was, " to get it operational and ready for service" by the end of the day.
The new custom-designed firetruck was the actualization of a promise made by White Hall Mayor Noel Foster to the fire chief.
Foster wanted to lower the city's Insurance Services Office, or ISO, rating, and if that were achieved, the city would pay for a new truck.
The department managed to exceed the mayor's expectations.
"Our fire department does a great job and has managed to get our ISO rating lowered to a 3 from a 5, which saves every homeowner and business owner money in their insurance premiums," Foster said.
The White Hall City Council "has made public safety a priority and gladly authorized the purchase," Foster said.
"The new truck will help us keep and maintain that rating," Castleberry said.
The approximately 20-person volunteer fire department services White Hall, which has a population estimated at more than 5,000, and answers between 120 and 130 non-medical calls each year, Castleberry said.
He and his crew were busy all afternoon.
"We were able to perform those tests and load the required equipment on the truck in order to put the apparatus in active service on the day it was received," he said.
It's now White Hall firetruck No. 1 and ready for service.
CUSTOM DESIGNING A DREAM
Working with personnel at Pierce Manufacturing Inc. in Bradenton, Fla., in July 2019, Castleberry and his Deputy Chief Eddie Parsley designed a truck that would better fit the volunteer fire department's needs.
They conducted a final inspection in September, more than a year after their first trip to Florida. It was shipped to Conway where additional equipment was installed before its trip to White Hall.
"It's the first of its nature," Castleberry said. "The hose bed goes all the way back."
The changes included an extended front cab bumper, and the usual inset wall is flat, all sitting on a commercial chassis.
The wider bed they opted for allows them to carry more hose inside the truck. They need room for 1,000 feet of 5-inch line, 900 feet of 1.5-inch hand ine and 400 feet of 2.5-inch handline.
Castleberry said, it also allows for "ease of operation."
It also comes with four scubas.
With today's plastic and other toxic manufacturing materials, firefighters face more than just flames, and the toxic fumes can cause serious lung and other injuries, Castleberry said.