By Brandon Bennett
WHITEWOOD— A side benefit of the Dan Schmidt retirement party at the WVFD station was the new pumper truck on display.
Chief Jarred Schmidt talked it up.
“I call it the wildland/urban interface rescue pumper, and we went with an all-wheel drive because we have different applications since we have a lot of housing developments,” he said.
The truck was built in Iowa and took two years to design and build, and Schmidt actually did a lot of the design for the truck.
It has a rear- mounted pump that takes up less space and that allowed for shortening up the overall length of it.
It’s got backup pumps and a 1,000 gallon water tank on board.
The truck is stocked with gear for rescues and can go just about anywhere.
“I’ve always liked fire trucks and so I started drawing things out and I actually had sheets of paper with the drawings of the compartments,” he said.
The truck was $750,000 and the department got a loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
