NORWICH – The City of Norwich held a special Common Council meeting Thursday night to discuss options for the purchase of a new fire tanker truck. The city has been operating without a tanker truck since it took a 1973 truck out of service.

Chief Joseph Angelino brought suggestions of the fire department’s truck committee to the members of the city council. The committee recommended the city to take the second to lowest bid. The truck they were in favor of, a 2006 Pierce built on an International cab and chassis, will cost the city $169,306. The lowest bid was ruled out because the company had no service facilities in this area. Volunteer Chief Jan Papelino and Firemen’s Association President James Fowlston also attended the meeting and answered the council’s questions.

The truck, Angelino explained, is a tanker truck. It does not qualify as a pumper/tanker combination by insurance standards, even though it does technically have a small pump attached. “Now-a-days most tankers have a pump,” Angelino said. The truck will hold 1,800 gallons of water, and according to Angelino it would not be logical to have that much water without a pump. This is an improvement over the old truck, which was gravity fed.