Custom-Built Fire Truck to Serve City of Goose Creek for 20 Years

GCFD Chief Steve Chapman watches as his department’s newest addition arrives at the Goose Creek Fire Department.

GOOSE CREEK, S.C.–The Goose Creek Fire Department has welcomed its newest addition: a custom-built fire truck that is expected to serve the City for at least two decades.

The E-ONE fire truck was designed and built specifically for the GCFD. It has been under construction for the past nine months, with Goose Creek Fire Chief Steve Chapman inspecting its progress along the way.

The “pumper” does just what its name implies: pumps water from a hydrant or other source to fight and extinguish fires. “This is a basic fire engine that pumps water … and it’s going to be very good at doing that,” Chapman said. “We are absolutely pleased with the end product.”

The truck will serve GCFD Station 3, which is in the final stages of construction on Old Moncks Corner Road. The City is in the process of hiring 12 additional firefighters to man that station and the department’s new headquarters set to open in 2016.

E-ONE sales representative Virgil Slagle (blue shirt) shows Chief Chapman details of the new fire truck.

FireLine Inc. sales representative Virgil Slagle delivered the new truck to Goose Creek on Oct. 1 – and reported that the vehicle “drove like a sports car.”

“It’s a fast, nimble truck, and it drives beautifully,” Slagle said. “It’s a good workhorse, with all of the latest safety features.

“A lot of thought went into its construction … everything on this truck was designed and custom-built around the equipment that the Goose Creek Fire Department uses. If more fire departments put the time and thought into their trucks that Goose Creek did, they’d be a lot better off.”

The truck, which cost $455,000, is made of stainless steel. It is powered by a 450-horsepower Cummins ISL motor, and has a 50-gallon fuel tank. Its Typhoon chassis was built at E-ONE’s Ocala, FL plant, while its body was constructed at the company’s Hamburg, NY location.

The truck features a Hale 1500 GPM (gallons per minute) pump, with a capacity of over 500 gallons of water. “It’s designed to carry a lot of hose,” Slagle said.

The E-ONE fire truck features a 450-horsepower engine, and is expected to last for over two decades.

According to Slagle, E-ONE custom builds and delivers between 550 and 600 fire trucks a year. The company’s website, www.e-one.com, calls its fire trucks the “strongest in the world.”