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Cape May Point Firefighters 'House' Pumper

Cape May Point | 10 weeks 2 days ago | Comments 13

By Jack Fichter

Front page: Fire Company President Tom Larkin with new pumper. Left: The new pumper is officially housed in Cape May Point. Photos by Jack Fichter

CAPE MAY POINT -- Cape May Point Volunteer Fire Co. No. 1 dedicated and housed a new, 2009 KME fire engine Saturday, Oct. 25.

On an otherwise gray morning with intermittent rain showers, the sun appeared at noon to illuminate the entire ceremony allowing the new pumper's stainless steel trim to shine brightly.

The new truck is painted in Cape May Point's traditional blue and white colors. It's predecessor, a 1975 Ford Bruco pumper was driven out of the firehouse. That truck is listed for sale on Govdeals.com

Personnel and fire trucks from Goshen, Middle Township, West Wildwood, Wildwood, Town Bank Rescue, Rio Grande, Erma and Cape May participated in a parade around the borough with new fire engine 5830 in the lead.

In a tradition that dates back to horse-drawn fire wagons, fire personnel and residents pushed the new pumper backwards into the firehouse.

Deputy Fire Chief Bill Gibson told the Herald the new truck has a 2,000-gallon per minute pump and a 1,000-gallon water tank. It is powered by a 400 horsepower Caterpillar diesel engine.

Father Ted Cassady, of the Marianist Family Retreat Center in Cape May Point, blessed the new fire engine with holy water.

Mayor Carl Schupp said the new truck cost over $400,000. He said he was happy the volunteer fire company would make the first year's payments.

Cape May Point Volunteer Fire Company No. 1 Chief Robert Shepanski said the extended, four-man cab made the new fire engine especially suitable for use in the borough.

Fire Company President Tom Larkin thanked Deputy Chief Gibson for his hard work in obtaining the new fire apparatus.

A group photo was taken of fire company members in their dress uniforms.

Following the ceremony, lunch was served.

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Comments (13)

We welcome your thoughts, stories and information related to this article.

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Thu, 10/30/2008 - 7:29pm

A Piece Indeed!

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Thu, 10/30/2008 - 2:14pm

To the assistant cheif....I am a firefighter and would never operate under someone as obviously out-of-touch as you are. Read up on your NFPA, I assume you know what that is, but maybe the Quick Fart Fire Company you're in charge of doesn't care about national standards. Anyway, I believe it's 20 years to retire a piece, but I'm not positive. Then again, I don't pretend to be as well-versed as an assistant chief. I'm sure your community is happy about saving money rather than their homes. Nice piece Cape May Point.

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Wed, 10/29/2008 - 3:25pm

They should have bought a ladder truck so they could help that firehouse on Broadway take down their christmas lights.

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Tue, 10/28/2008 - 9:10pm

Well I'm a assistant chief of a fire company and I've NEVER in my career heard of ANY NFPA regulation requiring replacement of fire engines after 15 years or 10,000 miles. The ONLY standard that has been a big change is that any fire truck being replaced must have an enclosed cab, but it is not a requirement to replace the truck if its still in good running order.
For proof, we are running a truck that is a 1986, and has 26,000 miles on it. Runs perfect, no need to replace it.
We don't waste tax payers money. If the truck runs, use it.

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Tue, 10/28/2008 - 5:13pm

Think of the jobs.

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Tue, 10/28/2008 - 2:57pm

You people will complain when a fire company gets a new truck to better protect their town's residents...but I bet you won't complain when its your house thats burning down and they bring that new truck that holds more firefighters and pumps water faster to put the fire out! You should all thank god that there are guys who actually VOLUNTEER to be firefighters, instead of every town having to have PAID ones!

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Mon, 10/27/2008 - 10:20pm

the reason for new trucks is because of nfpa regs and laws brought into affect by the PEOPLE YOU VOTE FOR!!! Fire apparatus is supposed to be replaced every fifteen years, whether being used once or ten thousand times, by law. And as far as the tax dollars go the point is the richest town down here and 80% of the houses are empty eight to ten months of the year. And to think that was the cheapest truck that they got a quote for, just imagine the complaints for a simmilar truck made by Seagrave would be close to double that of a KME

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Mon, 10/27/2008 - 7:30pm

How many fire co.'s are there on the island. I haven't seen anyone at the one on broadway in months, is that one still active?. It should all be one big unit, that would make the most sense. Why spend that much money on a pumper when it's only going to burn to the ground anyway?Come on island people, wise up and consolidate before someone gets hurt. You deserve the best service possible.

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Sun, 10/26/2008 - 5:29pm

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

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Sun, 10/26/2008 - 4:25pm

I certainly dont think anyone was trying to bash the fire department ,just saying why do we need a new engine when there is never a fire, and the old engines were still in great shape. Unless you guys would just like to parade a 400,000 dollar truck on firemans weekend. overkill in my eyes

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Sun, 10/26/2008 - 3:05pm

In reply to the previous posts, you will be happy that us volunteers are well equipped with the most modern equipment possible, when god forbid your house catches fire some day.

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Sun, 10/26/2008 - 1:13pm

Of course the old truck was in great shape. They take fine care of thier equipment. That and if you only average a fire every 10 years it was only at 3 fires. What is realy funny though is that I noticed they have 4 fire trucks, that's like 1 truck for every 50 residents. On a good note though, at least they don't waste money on some huge clubhouse like some of the other places around here.

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Sun, 10/26/2008 - 11:37am

More waste of tax payers dollars, the old truck was still in fine shape

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