LIVINGSTON- The Livingston Fire Department will receive a new 75-feet ladder/pumper truck within the next three to four months thanks in part to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Fire Act Grant, which will pay $440,000 of the total $485,000 for the new engine.

Chief Tony Peeler of the LFD said this new ladder truck would help move the department into the next level of fire fighting. The new truck will give the department a taste of today’s technology and how useful it can be in and around the City of Livingston.

“I’ve served on the Review Panel for the past 5 years and this has always been a major need for our area,” Peeler said, “Having this truck in Livingston means that we will no longer have to wait for the ladder truck to come from Demopolis or Butler.”

The Mayor of Livingston, Tom Tartt said this has been a piece of equipment that the City of Livingston has needed for the longest time now. There are many buildings in Livingston and on the campus of the University of West Alabama that are over two stories high and this truck will surely give the fire department a better chance of saving the citizens and the buildings they’re in.

“The city council has provided the amount of $93,500 to help pay for the rest of the truck and for the new building that will be added on to the old department to house the new truck,” Tartt said, “The new building that will house the truck will be 30 by 50 feet and will carry a price tag of around $49,000.”

Peeler would like to thank the mayor and the city council for allowing him to continue to be the chief of the department for the past six years. He would also like to thank UWA and the Sumter County School System for all their continued support of the fire department over the years.