CHARLEVOIX TWP. — The Charlevoix Township Fire Department will receive $1 million from this year’s state budget to help support the purchase of a new aerial firetruck.
The funding was supported by State Rep. Parker Fairbairn, (R) District 107, Harbor Springs, and is part of hundreds of millions of dollars in grants given out around the state.
Fire chief Dan Thorp says that the department’s current truck is around 30 years old and has been out of state for maintenance over most of the summer.
He expects that truck back by the end of October.
Thorp says that the second truck will help the department with consistency and meeting the needs of Charlevoix and surrounding communities — that includes being better prepared for the US-31 drawbridge and large events.
“You got the bridge that separates the north and the south side — especially summer months, traffic gets busy,” Thorp said. “So we will move that truck around from the north to the south, depending on traffic and events that the city has going on to make it easily accessible.”
Thorp says that a new truck fetches for close to $2.3 million, and that the remaining funding will eventually come from the city or township.
He also says that there’s around a three year build time for new trucks, and he’s hopeful that construction will kick off in the coming months.