Brand New Fire Engine Delivered To Bensalem

BENSALEM TOWNSHIP, PA —It happened in June 2022 to Engine 222.

A head-on collision took place between a van and Bensalem Township Engine 222 at the 2100 block of Street Road between Hulmeville Road and Knights Road.

Luckily, the firefighters were not injured. But the fire engine did not survive —it was totaled.

On Wednesday morning, the new Engine 222 arrived.

Mayor Joseph DiGirolamo and Bill McVey, the township's director of public safety, joined the township's full-time fire squad to welcome the fire engine at the Bensalem Township Municipal Complex.

Fire engines don't come cheap. And with the way the supply chain has been of late, they don't come fast either.

The fully-equipped 2023 Pierce Enforcer Rescue Engine cost just under $850,000, McVey told Patch Wednesday.

He said the truck will be placed in service in about two weeks after township mechanics make some equipment adjustments.

Battalion Chief Rob Sponheimer, FF/EMT Tom McCool, FF/EMT Nick Altomare, and Deputy Director of Public Safety Bob Race visited Pierce Manufacturing in Appleton, WI., in mid-June to perform the final inspection of the fire engine.

Throughout the building phase, Bensalem Fire Rescue posted pictures of the engine under construction.

"It's our brand new truck," the mayor said. "It was an emergency so we were on the fast track."

Fire trucks don't often get totaled in accidents. McVey said, though, that if the two firefighters had been in an SUV instead, the Street Road collision might have been a fatality.

McVey said the township was fortunate to receive the engine so quickly.

He said these days, to get a new fire truck, the waiting period is between 18 and 24 months.

(Photo Courtesy of Bensalem Fire Rescue) Mayor Joseph DiGirolamo and Bill McVey, director of public safety, pose with the township's fire crew to welcome Engine 222 Wednesday morning at the Bensalem Township Municipal Complex.