Dawson City, Yukon’s new $890K fire truck rolls into town | CBC News
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To Mike Masserey, it’s the “Pride of Dawson,” or, “King of the Yukon.”
And the Dawson City, Yukon, fire chief says he’s pretty sure there’s no other vehicle quite like it in the North.
The Dawson City fire department this week welcomed a new addition to its fleet of fire trucks. Driven all the way from Winnipeg, the new $890,000 machine will replace the oldest of the department’s three other trucks, a 29-year old vehicle which was decommissioned last year.
Masserey said he had been looking for a replacement to the older model since he became fire chief eight years ago.
“When I first came, the same truck was probably worth $400,000,” he said. “And then when COVID happened, almost everything that was emergency services [related] almost doubled in price.”
Masserey says he was on the hunt for a new truck that might cost around $800,000, when someone at Manitoba’s Fort Garry Fire Trucks contacted him with an unbeatable deal.
“I got a phone call from Fort Garry saying, ‘we see your specs, this meets and exceeds everything that you want,'” Masserey recalled.
The truck, valued at $1.37 million, had originally been intended for another fire department but Masserey says the deal fell through and that department lost its deposit. That means Dawson City was able to purchase the truck for a bargain price.
The truck is about a metre and a half longer than the decommissioned model, holds 7,500 litres of water, has charging ports in every cabinet for equipment, and has a turret nozzle on the front, says Masserey.
“It’s everything and more than what we wanted … I’m very happy,” he said.
The truck made it to Dawson with a few scars. There were some new chips in the windshield, and also a broken driver’s side window due to a rock falling from a passing truck near Carmacks, said Masserey. New windows have been ordered and are on their way.
At this week’s celebration at the fire hall in Dawson City, Mayor Stephen Johnson christened the new vehicle with a bottle of champagne.
“This truck represents the very best of Dawson spirit. It’s modern, it’s capable, and it’s built for the realities of the North, complete with busted Yukon-roads windows,” said Johnson.
“It gives our firefighters the tools they need to respond faster, work safer, and serve this community with the confidence that their equipment will meet them at every challenge.” .”
