KEARNY –
Want to buy a used fire truck?
You’ll have a chance to do so in Kearny when the town auctions off a 1990 Emergency- One Fire Engine on Aug. 12 at 11 a.m. at the Town Clerk’s office at the Municipal Building, 402 Kearny Ave.
No minimum bid is requested but a deposit equal to 10% of the bid is required.
Fire Chief Steven Dyl said the rig is “beyond its useful life” for departmental use.
Although its odometer is no longer operating, Dyl said that staff has estimated that the vehicle has logged “more than 100,000 miles” during its lengthy service with the Fire Department.
Department records show that the 1,500 gallon-per-minute pumper – 32 feet in length and 36,400 pounds – was purchased from the Florida- based manufacturer, the E-1 Co., in 1990 for $182,491.
Views of fire truck being auctioned.
For its first seven years, the vehicle was deployed as Engine 2 out of the Kearny Ave. firehouse and then as Engine 3 out of the Midland Ave. firehouse until 2007 when it was designated as a reserve rig.
“It had a new motor installed in 2004,” Dyl said. And now, he added, “it needs a new transmission.”
In its place, Dyl said the Fire Department has a 1997 reserve engine available.
Among the big fires to which the 1990 rig responded during its active service period were a general alarm chemical fire in South Kearny in 1993, the Kearny Cleaners blaze in 1998 and a residential fire at Windsor Terrace and Liberty St. in 2005.
In its present condition, Dyl said it would likely be of interest to collectors, fire museums “or it could be cannibalized for parts.” The bid package is available for inspection in the Town Clerk’s office, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday to Friday, and is also available on the town’s website at www.kearnynj.org.
Anyone interested in physically checking out the pumper is asked to contact the Fire Chief’s office at the Kearny Fire Department by calling 201-955-7419 to arrange for a site visit, Dyl said.
– Ron Leir
