WORTHINGTON — With limited fire hydrants in the Hilltowns, a new special type of fire truck will allow Worthington firefighters to more quickly extinguish fires by transporting 3,000 gallons of water to blazes and more easily drawing water from other sources.

Worthington officials on Monday afternoon were presented a $262,781 Federal Emergency Management Agency Assistance to Firefighters Grant that provides most of the funding to purchase what is known as a vacuum tanker fire truck.

The new truck features a tank that replaces an existing tank that is more than 60 years old, said Margaret Boyle, a staff assistant in the Springfield office of U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, who was on hand to present the grant to firefighters and municipal leaders.

Fire Capt. Michael Dondiego, who wrote the grant application, said the town has used an aging hand-built tank that has been ferried on two different vehicles. The current vehicle’s chassis dates to 1994.

“This will help with a much more effective job,” Dondiego said.

The current equipment, he said, doesn’t meet National Fire Prevention Association’s codes and standards.

Dondiego explained that a two-person crew can operate the new vacuum fire truck, which is important in a town that has a volunteer force of 14. In addition, the vacuum system allows firefighters to get water from more sites, and can also help get water to other apparatus, improving mutual aid with neighboring towns.

“It gives us a lot of flexibility,” Dondiego said. “It’s a modern-day piece of equipment.”

Residents previously appropriated an $18,000 match for the truck at an October special Town Meeting.

It will likely take a year for a company to build and deliver the vacuum tanker fire truck, Dondiego said.

Other Hilltowns have received similar grants in recent years, including Cummington and Chesterfield. Officials in those communities have cited benefits of having these trucks, including that they require fewer firefighters to handle, which is important in towns with small and sometimes shrinking volunteer forces, and water can be more quickly unloaded from them.

Earlier this month, Chesterfield received a $129,000 grant through the same grant program to buy 19 air packs.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.

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